Sloan's, Florida

Location:
112 Clematis St West Palm Beach FL

www.sloansonline.com
One of the prettiest candy stores I've ever been to has got to be Sloan's in West Palm Beach, Florida.

It's PINK!   And has fancy lamps and a painted ceiling and they have chocolates and delicious ice-creams!!







We had a caramel-and-nut-filled chocolate which got wrapped up all prettily!


I'm sad to say I missed out on the bathroom which is apparently incredible!! Check out the review on Crappers Quarterly (yep, I'm just as surprised as you that this site exists!)

Fascinating!

Worth going there for that, alone!

Sandwich Box

Location:

67 Richmond St W., Toronto

www.sandwichbox.ca

This is just to report that directly across from Lunchbox...our favourite frugal Chinese food spot, is this fancy sandwich-in-a-box place....which is neither frugal (unless you get the simple egg salad which is $%{{87%{{90%{{%{{dc90ee4e-724f-44f6-a28%{{c942393c-356c-4719-980d-140c7a8faa3c}}-1dd012185e69}}f6418d6-db7e-4f1e-bdc4-9b457ce48fec}}da1bc-fa1e-4e33-a809-cdeb5cdb820e}}46b71-73aa-436b-b330-6f5159730ed9}}.50) nor .....chinese.

I've yet to try it because Lunchbox always steals my lunch money, but here are some images of what my friends have gotten there.

Bar Wellington

Location:

520 Wellington St W, Toronto

Oh, Bar Wellie, how you've changed.

View

Okay, not to be quite so dramatic, but we really had some good times Bar Wellie and I. Once upon a time, when the service was nice and friendly, and I had my first taste of Leffe beer. Let me tell you, it was something else.  Now it really IS something else.

The service is sloooooooooooooow and rude and the food is, well, okay, so the food was never really THAT good.  The club sandwich, really dry and the pizza bland.

Club Sandwich

Pizza



It does have a big outdoor patio though, but size isn't all that matters.

I guess we will always have Leffe Beer.

Compass Lakeside Grill & Lounge

Just got invited to the opening of Compass Lakeside Grill and Lounge, Oakville’s Newest Waterfront Resto in Bronte Outer Harbour!

Looking forward to it.

Product: Chimes Ginger Chews

A friend of mine at work brought these in once, and we all tried it.  They're a burst of flavour in your mouth, but I think they're better described by Lurgs herself.

Check out the blog she writes with her friend YY; the two of them are insanely creative and their blog explores everything that is supercoolawesome!

My Little Sweatshop

And although she is definitely not cunning, Lurgs is most definitely crafty,  so be sure to also check out her Etsy site where you can find the cutest buttons, ornaments and magnets, such as these (all images copyright of Cunning and Crafty):

Moxie’s, Yorkdale Mall

Location:
Yorkdale Mall, 1 Yorkdale Road, Toronto

Moxie's has the lowest lighting possible, which is really no excuse for bad photos, and these really are the worst pics ever, so I'll just leave you to them whilst I turn away.

Harbour Sports Grille

Location:

10 Yonge St., Toronto

www.harboursportsgrille.com

Fish n' Chips..............check.

Fish n chips

Beer....................check.

mmmmmmmmm....beer

TVs....................check.

Over 50 TVs and 2 big screens

Random pasta dish.............check.

Pasta

Can't ask for more from Harbour Sports Grille.

Oaks Gardens Restaurant

Location:


128 Speers Road, Oakville, ON

Cost: $25 for 2

For chinese take-out this place is always reliable. Consistently tasty and they always use good cuts of meat - chicken breast in everything!  The orange chicken (sweet or spicy; had both) is delish! And the portions are huge - and they're not stingy (ie. always loads of shrimps in the fried rice!). We've never sat in, only always done take-out or delivery...but we've never been disappointed.

Inexpensive and yummy chinese in the Ville!

Lots of shrimp in the shrimp fried rice

Chicken

Shanghai noodles with chicken

Orange Chicken

Cows, Banff

Location:

134 Banff Avenue
Banff, AB

www.cows.ca

There's no better place to pick up an ice-cream cone than from one named Cows, don't you think?

Cows, Banff, Alberta

Chocolate Fudge

They have a giant cow in the entrance and lots of souvenirs/t-shirts to buy (fairly pricey, though!)

COW!  There was no line-up when we were there!

Although the ice-cream didn't blow me away, I have to say even being someone lactose-intolerant, I would go again, 'cause in scenic Banff, it's totally worth it.

They're also open all year round.  Moooooooooo!

Easter

Happy Easter!

Juliet et Chocolat

Location:

1615 Rue Saint-Denis, Montreal

Juliet et Chocolat

One of the places we stopped in at for a few pralines.   I can't remember now how much they were; I have the receipt somewhere, but I do remember them being quite pricey.

They looked like the ones I'd once bought from Costco a while ago...this one pictured below is a little beaten having been the sole survivor to make it on film.

The last praline from Juliet et Chocolat....

If you like fancy chocolates like I do, it's a good place to try out.  These pralines weren't too exciting, but I'd go back and try something else there.

Pizza Libretto & Golden Turtle

Location:

PL 221 Ossington Ave,. Toronto

GT 125 Ossington Ave., Toronto

It all started with an image of Chocolate Affogato on A's FB page which then sent us on a taste-test-excursion to Pizza Libretto as they are one of the (maybe few?) restos in TO who serve it.

Excitedly, I arrived at said location, looking for my friend, only to be  stopped by the hostess who demanded I tell her what I was doing.  Surprised, I quickly told her I was looking for a friend who may already be seated somewhere in the depths of the crowded (and loud!) restaurant.  She looked at me incredulously and stated that there was no way anyone could be waiting for me since her waiting list was 2 pages long (!) (and they don't take reservations - another !). Now it was my turn to be confused, so I gave her my friend's name to which she confirmed with much finality that A was not on the list.

Shrugging I decided to wait for A, who within minutes bounded up to me with as much enthusiasm as I had had a few seconds ago myself .  Together we tackled Hostess and put our names on the 2 page long list.  Hostess told us we could enjoy a drink and then she'd call us.  We thought she meant hang out at the bar and then she'd call upon us, but she literally meant go out and have a drink somewhere else and then she'd call my cell phone.  In 40 minutes.  40 minutes!!!

Hungry and deflated, was I, not to say annoyed with the abruptness of the Hostess.  A, still in good spirits suggested Golden Turtle just down the street.  We decided to check out their menu and then decide whether we wanted to eat there or wait the 40 minutes.  The menu was not posted outside, so we had to go inside and ask.  By doing so, we were waved to have a seat, to which we lamely protested that we simply wanted to see the menu.  Too late.  We'd just been seated and handed menus.  And we were rather liking this kinder hospitality.

So be it.  We'd wait for PL to call and then go back for dessert, which was what we had originally scouted it out for.

Golden Turtle is one of those brightly lit, bustling, no-nonsense Vietnamese joints where the pho keeps pho'ing and the well, you get the drift.

A was reminded why she loves a good photo to go with the menu options, as we couldn't tell what a damn thing was on there.  Finally, we opted for the beef cold rolls, the chicken vermicelli with shrimp on a bamboo stick, and beef vermicelli.

Beef Vermicelli

The cold beef rolls were hearty and refreshing, and we both agreed, a perfect start to the meal.

Cold Rolls

My shrimp on a bamboo stick (highly recommended by A and looking mighty tasty on all the dishes being served around me) looked amazing in my bowl...until I turned it over with my chopsticks.  *Cue the waah waah's*

A solid strand of hair was coiled around it in the worst way.

Definitely, not a good start to the meal.

We showed it to our waitress who simply said, 'Okay' and brought me another bowl of my order.

I have to admit, once I'd gotten over the image of the hair out of my head, I fully enjoyed that bamboo shrimp stick.  Gnawing on that that stick until the rest of my dish went cold.

Chicken Vermicelli



Besides the hair, we did have a nice meal.   During our meal, my phone shrilled twice; PL calling with our "reservations" (why don't they just take reservations in the first place?).  We took our time finishing up at GT and sauntered over to PL for our dessert.

So a little more than 40 minutes later we were back at PL where the Hostess, as much as she wasn't pleased with us for not answering her calls, was more concerned with her waiting list and adding more helpless patrons to it.   I must admit, at that point, it was nice to be instantly whisked away to our reserved seats.

Our declaration to our server about us only being there for dessert and not dinner didn't go over well, at all.  Neither did our request for two hot waters.  We did look over at the tables beside us and salivated at what we saw everyone tucking into.  Also, it turned out, my yoga instructor and her friend were sitting beside us;  they'd endured the 40 minute wait and it seemed it had been worth it.  A and I looked at each other, semi-kicking ourselves for not waiting and vowing to come back soon and try the pies.  The pies and maybe the tiramisu again, but certainly not the affogato which was disappointing and nothing like the image burned onto my brain.  (See first image below, borrowed from this site) and then see the chocolate affogato at Pizza Libretto.

That was the image I had in mind.

Cold Rolls

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="332" caption="Chocolate Affogato"]
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This is what we got:

Pizza Libretto

Pizza Libretto

The tiramisu looked a bit better, and A loved it (and for someone who doesn't like tiramisu, that said a lot). I thought it didn't taste like tiramisu, which, perhaps, also says a lot.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="384" caption="Tiramisu"]
[/caption]

A few hours later, with sore throats from having screamed over the din of the restaurant, and after many cutting glances from our server, we called it a night.   They seemed to want our table to seat the staff for their dinner.  How long did they have to wait for it, I wonder?

Before all you PL fanatics jump on this review with your rants on how it serves us right and that we should have waited yada yada, note that we are right this moment, planning our return to PL.

Will keep you posted.