Plaid & Parliament

My bestie Heather (a.k.a French Fries - how this nickname came to be is a whooooooole other story) came to visit me in Ottawa. We planned this weekend MONTHS in advance. She's a busy bee law student, so we only get to see each other every few months or so. I always look forward to our visits!!! #food #wine #luxury #food #food. 

And now it's over. Wah. You know that feeling of sadness you get, right after you open your last present on Christmas morning? All that excitement and anticipation, and then BAM, it's all over. That's how I felt after she left!!! 

BUT, in the spirit of keeping things jolly, here's Heather casually modelling with the Canadian Parliament buildings in the background. Whatta babe show!  

As soon as she arrived, we headed downtown to check out Parliament and the Supreme Court of Canada. My strategy was to knock out those nerdy/Canadiana sight seeing things right off the bat! (To make room for more shopping and eating, obviously.)

Supreme Court of Canada

Parliament

Plaid/tartan is very in right now. AND I'M OBSESSED! I'm all about that lumberjack lyyyfe (my ideal man is one who could chop down a tree, preferably with his bare hands, then carry me on his back up a mountain).  

My first purchase in plaid was this infinity scarf from Etsy. Check it! 

Flannel = god's blanket. It's like wearing cozy bed sheets around my face. Comfy. And plaid goes with everything! I especially like it with my camel wool coat from Aritzia. 

Since then, I've snagged a couple other plaid pieces to add to my wardrobe. (I am super on board with this trend!!) 

Like this skirt from Zara:

And this boyfriend flannel shirt from the Gap: 

Now I just need some plaid pants... maybe a coat... a plaid blazer... and I'm all set!  

Ps: it was -20C when I shot these. SO COLD. The things I do for a good old glamour shot. Haha. 

Heather and I spent the rest of the weekend exploring Ottawa, trying new restaurants and eating ourselves silly. Num num num. Gotta put on that winter warmth!!  

Afternoon Tea at Chateau Laurier

I am obsessed with all things British. 
If it didn't rain so much, I'd move there.

For example, a few of my favourite British things are: 
-Kate Middleton (my homegurl), and the Royal Family. 
-Tweed jackets. So rugged yet sophisticated! 
-Double decker buses (TWO levels to sit on?!!) 
-Pubs (self explanatory)
-Pimms (also self explanatory)
-The Spice Girls (girl power!) 
-Wellies (or just English country life in general)
-and TEA!!!!. Specifically, afternoon tea. 

Afternoon tea is not just drinking tea, in the afternoon. Traditionally, afternoon tea is a light meal eaten between 4-6pm. It originated amongst the wealthy in England, as something to tide them over until dinner time. From there, it has spiralled into a decadent and luxurious affair. Usually served on a tiered stand, you can expect scones (with clotted cream and jam), sandwiches, and a variety of cakes/baked goods for dessert. Oh, and they'll give you some tea, too. 

I was born to do this shiet. 

Ever since I discovered that the Fairmont Chateau Laurier (a beautiful historic castle-like hotel, in the heart of Ottawa) did an afternoon tea service, I've been DYINGGGG to go. Finally, I just made the reservation (ps - you need to make a reservation), rallied up my girlies, and did the damn thang. Weeeeeeeee!!!! 

The tea service is held in Zoe's lounge, named after Sir Wilfred's beloved wife, Zoe Laurier. The decor in both the hotel and the lounge is beautiful. 

There are two tea services to choose from: a Traditional Tea, and a slightly more expensive Canadian Tea (there's also a Little Prince and Princess tea for kids, too cute!). We all decided on the Canadian Tea. Yolo. 

To start, we were brought ice wine marinated strawberries. 

And, tea. I had Darjeeling for the first time! (The name intrigued me. Darjeeling, it just sounds so exotic. Like something a celebrity would name their child.)

The tea cart!

Then, our tiered stands arrived. 

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've had afternoon tea once before: they brought one tiered stand for the table, and just kept replacing the sandwiches and scones as they disappeared into our bellies. This time however, we each got our own!!! And I was ok with that. 

The scones were phenomenal!!!!!!!!! I seriously luv clotted cream. Could eat dat stuff all day. 

And the service was great. A friendly gentleman with glasses. I wish I remembered his name. Well done, sir! 

Be warned: the Canadian Tea is A LOT of food. I felt like I needed to be rolled out of that place afterwards. Whatever. 

The sandwiches and desserts were good! Somewhere around average.  Not like it really mattered. Afternoon tea is all about the experience. A fancy afternoon of lady bonding with my fancy lady friends. In a castle! (kind of). 

Afternoon tea would make a great gift for mom on Mother's Day! Also a good idea for entertaining if you have a friend visiting from out of town. The Chateau Laurier is a historic and beautiful part of Ottawa. Take some time afterwards to wander the hotel's corridors and ballroom. And make sure to stop at the loo on your way out ;) (... but seriously, it's nice in there!!)

  

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.....