Ottawa Wine & Food Festival

Last weekend was the Ottawa Wine and Food Festival. 

I missed it last year, so you BETTER BELIEVE I was all over it this time around. 

My friends and I attended the Saturday afternoon Tasting Floor Pass. Held at the Ottawa Convention Centre, hundreds of exhibitors set up shop offering samples of wines, beers, spirits and foods from around the world - and around Ottawa. 

I WAS PUMPED!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Firstly, I was totally diggin' the crowd. Young professional men in suits (meow) and ladies in dresses. It felt like more of a club at times than a convention centre. A friend of mine told me to dress up, and I'm really thankful they did (I probably could have even dressed up a little more). I was worried I would be waiting in lines, but there weren't any!! Hooray. 

Now, to the food. 

We ate ourselves sillyyyy. GO BIG OR GO HOME. Amirite?? The one thing I was surprised to see, was quite a few chain restaurants and pubs. Like Real Sports, The Clocktower Pub... not exactly fine dining, but still fun! I think everyone agreed that the best thing we ate all day was the lobster... POUTINE!!, from Petit Bill's Bistro. 

Who knew such a thing existed??? It was awesome. But to be fair, I've never had a poutine I didn't like (poutine tasting for me usually goes down at 2:30 am, post bar library). I've never been to Petit Bill's! It's been added to my to-do list.   

The award for most interesting thing I ate has to go to the bison and wild boar on a stick. 

I love how straight up they were. They could have classed up the name, like "wild boar sausage hors d'oeuvres with a dijon butter".... Nope. Just wild boar. On a stick. 

I've had bison before (bison burgers) but never wild boar. I liked both! To be honest they both kind of tasted the same to me. Maybe I haven't developed my wild game palete quite yet. Lulz.  

Also, CHEESE!!!!!!!

Specifically, RACLETTE!!!! 

Raclette is a type of cheese, and a Swiss dish based on heating the cheese and scraping it off (racler = to scrape). 

I don't care who you are, melted cheese is DA BOMB!! They could have scraped it onto a shoe and I still would have tried to eat it. Not ashamed. 

Finally for dessert, blueberry cheesecake. With a chocolate crust! Deeeeeeeeelish. 

I obviously ate (and drank) way more than this, but these were the foods worth mentioning.

Apparently they're planning a spring edition of the festival! Come at me wine & food!  

Halloween

We luv Halloween! 

This year, the girls and I decided to dress up as "party animals". Get it!? (From left to right: a peacock, lion, dalmatian, and a deer, partying it up). 

I really enjoy group costumes. Especially ones where everyone can do their own thang, but still be part of a group. Everyone's costume can stand on its own, and no one needs to compromise! It's the perfect solution.

I love homemade costumes!!! Ordering one online just feels like cheating. I also happen to love tutus! So when it came to brainstorming ideas for my peacock costume, incorporating a tutu was a no-brainer. And they're super easy to make! 

You will need: 

• Tulle. For my tutu, I used approximately 5m worth. 
• Ribbon, for the waist band. 
• Bling bling!, or whatever you want to add to accessorize your tutu. I bought some peacock feathers and gemstones for mine, and glued them on with a hot glue gun at the end. 

Now let's get crafting: 

1. Take the ribbon and wrap it around your waist. With a marker, mark the spot on the ribbon where both sides come together, leaving about 6 inches at both ends. Tie knots where you made your marks. This will be your waist band. 

2. Next, cut your tulle into approximately 50x20cm pieces. It doesn't matter if your pieces aren't all the same size, you can trim straggling pieces off your tutu at the end. 

3. Tie tulle pieces onto the ribbon, in between the knots. The extra ribbon after the knots is to tie the tutu on you. Keep adding tulle from knot-to-knot until the ribbon is full. 

Here's an instagram of my almost-finished product. 

Halloween was a success, and my costume held up all night! I've been known to bust out some pretty aggressive dance moves, so it's a big relief it didn't wind up down around my ankles. Now I just need to find more excuses to wear a tutu..... 

Thanksgiving Weekend

 October has been a hectic month... 

A lovely month, but a hectic one! I've been mostly busy with studying for my med school midterms, which are finally over!!! YAHOOOO! Time to pawty. 

A few weeks ago, I managed to make it back home for Thanksgiving with my family. I usually spend this weekend sleeping and eating, hiding in a cocoon of rest and relaxation lazy. But not this time! My first day back, Mama Bear and I hit the highway northbound to Lake Superior Provincial Park. She wanted to go for a hike, and show me her newly discovered "secret spot". Now I can't tell you where my mama's secret spot is (she'd killlll me), but I can show you a few photos from our day ;)

I think I may have missed the peak of the autumn leaves by about a week, but the colours were still so pretty. 

Of course Bailey came with us! Such a good girl. The way she sits with her legs spread open kills me. 

This is my favourite shot of the day. Bailey is so fuzzy yet so serious! (She's normally so silly!)

I normally don't get to spend a lot of one-on-one time with my mama, so this day together was special. I think it's something we'll both always remember. 

Thanksgiving Sunday, my BFF Christine and I headed out to Mocking Bird Hill Farm, a.k.a. Farmer Bob's. Where I come from, Farmer Bob is a local celeb. The guy's a bawse. Every resident of my hometown has at one point been out to his farm for a school field trip/sleigh ride/pick your own Christmas tree. For the fall he puts on a corn maze, so Christine and I decided to get our country on and go check it out. 

After 2 hours in this mother, we ended up hitting 5/6 check points! Proud of us. 

We finally escaped the maze and wandered around the farm. Is it just me, or are pumpkins super photogenic?? I couldn't get enough of them!! I think it's the pop of orange against the natural farm background that I'm obsessed with. So seasonal! Luvs it. 

There's also a small petting farm on site. If only these photos could convey the smell of this place! But it was adorable, so it was worth it. 

This baby goat stole my heart. Look at him trying to steal some snacks from the vending machine! Such a sneaky lil fella. 

Definitely a Thanksgiving weekend for the books! Saw everyone I wanted to catch up with, ate........ everything. Now time to get back to the real world.