Toronto Getaway Weekend

Last weekend Calvin planned us a weekend in Toronto with no kids. Which sounds like a really good opportunity to catch up on sleep, except that I only got three hours. Because I'm smart.

Our evening started off having dinner with my sister and her boyfriend. We ate at Richmond Station, a restaurant that is the creation of former Top Chef winner, chef Carl. He was in the kitchen all night, which was totally open to where we sat, so my sister definitely took some strategic selfies with him in the background. We had some delicious drinks - a walnut old fashioned, craft beer... mine was ginger beer based which is pretty typical for me. We polished off an enormous plate of oysters then ordered chick pea fritters with tahini and baba ganoush. Cal was excited to try their famous station burger. My sister settled on a duck dish and her boyfriend ordered rabbit two ways. One dish on the menu caught my eye because of the accompaniments (pickled ramps, oyster mushrooms, tarragon soubis, I'm there) but I honestly didn't know what the main protein was - skate wing. My guess was beef so I asked the server. She said it's a type of manta ray. I was all in, and it was perfect. Lightly floured and pan-seared - the texture was similar to any ocean fish flesh and the flavour was sweet and mild. The pickled ramps put it over the top for me - any acidic component in a meal is a winner for me. (#allthevinegar) We couldn't deny ourselves the dessert menu and we ended up with a matcha bar (good sweet mercy) and this unreal combination of apple crumble (corn shortbread crust) with miso caramel (which I would happily drown in), a toasted nut dusting and this life-changing cheddar ice cream. I also had some coffee, because, coffee. 

Overall, it had really nice decor - hip, modern, minimalist - and incredible service. 10/10 would eat there again. 

We took a 2 minute walk back over to our hotel (Trump International) and spent the next few hours playing round after gut-busting round of Cards Against Humanity. I made the horrible choice to have another coffee. Long after my sister and her boyfriend had left to see a friend's concert, and Calvin had passed out in bed, I was sitting sitting there on my phone like an Energizer bunny, unable to fall asleep until after 2:30am. But the math checked out ... coffee at 11:30pm + 3 hours of caffeination = 2:30am, so I should have seen it coming.

Our room had a beautiful view of the financial district all the way to the Lake. All of the windows were outfitted with powered curtains, much to my demise when Calvin realized this around 8am when he woke up. Unfortunately, I'd woken up at 5am (my body didn't get the memo that Oliver wouldn't be asking for a breakfast sandwich in the next few minutes) and I had used a soak in the giant bath tub to fall back asleep. Little did I know I had an appointment at the spa for 9am so I guess waking up was eventually necessary.

This is the pool I didn't swim in. 

This is the bathroom I took selfies in.

I'll be fantasizing about this tub for the next few years. 

Big beds are my cat nip. You know that Nick Jonas song "Cause space is just a word made up for someone who's afraid to get too... close." yeah, my husband says my version is "Cause close is just a word made up for someone who's afraid to give me ... SPACE." #getoutofmyzone #INTJ

This was my view as I waited for my appointment to begin at the spa.

The manicurist enjoyed my description of what colour I want on my nails as "I only like really light pink, but opaque enough to cover how awful my natural nails look, but still pale enough that it's like the colour of a worn ballet slipper." "So, ballet slipper?" "No. Like a more nude Bubble Bath." "Sweet heart." "I know I'm not usually this difficult but I..." "No, the colour is Sweet heart." "Oh okay, I trust you."

Later she said "So apparently you play guitar." 

We ate in the restaurant upstairs and were not disappointed. Calvin had a ham benny.

I went with the hang over classic, Huevos Racheros. Which I immediately searched on Urban Dictionary to see if it had any double meaning. 

Lunch was at our favourite street meat guy. In case you're wondering, my order is Spicy + olives, kraut, banana peppers & mustard. No drink.

I was told our seats were "pretty crappy, sorry" and I was already convinced that we should start looking for the stairs to get to the upper when suddenly Cal took at turn down a section and we ended up 7 rows from the TD seats behind home plate. And not a damn person saw me on TV! Come on.

This is the face of a tired woman.

And here are some snaps of the Jays. We really had a great weekend and I can't wait til the next one.