7.27.2008
Trajectory
Another year, another memorable day spent at the Rexall Centre...=)
Got there around the same time as last year, as El & I were hoping that, once again, we would catch one of the players (in this case, Nadal) on a practice court. We couldn't find him at first, even after having checked every court around the place, so we decided to just browse the tents for tennis equipments & freebies. It seemed to us, however, that this year's tents were quite dull. Nothing was really interesting (they didn't even have the giant racquets for you to play with anymore...=\) & they didn't really give out good free stuff, lol (or so we thought, at the time). After a while we noticed people were gathering around one of the practice courts, & that tipped me off that Nadal was playing. And he was. Unfortunately, he was on the farthest of 3 courts, so it wasn't accessible to us "peasants" (you get to go to the other side, ie. right next to his court, if you were a VIP =P), but we could still watch him from afar if we wanted. And that's exactly what we did for about half an hour, although I don't know if it was the distance or the fact that Nadal's game doesn't have as much variety as Justine, his practice just didn't engage me as much. Anyway, we left for the doubles match after, & this time we were actually excited about the match 'cause it featured our very own hero Daniel Nestor (who just completed a career Golden Slam, wooo!! =D). When we got to our seats, I was ecstatic to see how close we were (literally just 5 or 6 rows away from the court), which only made me more excited about the matches coming up. I ended up missing the doubles players' entrance 'cause I was in the bathroom (boo), but that certainly didn't take anything away from what turned out to be an excellent match. Both Nestor/Zimonjic & the Bryans showed why they're the top teams in the world in the first 2 sets, so when it came down the super-tiebreak, you really couldn't tell who would win. Things looked grim when Nestor/Zimonjic were down 3-6 in the tiebreak, but somehow they managed to hold themselves together & win the next 7 points & the match (funny story: an overwhelming number of people thought the match was over when it got to 8-6, only to see soon after that the players continued playing; everyone stood up & cheered while I screamed "IT'S NOT OVER!!" at the top of my lungs...xD I ended up having to explain to the people in front & behind that for a SUPER-tiebreak, it ends at 10, not 7, lol). It sure was exciting for us Canadians to see one of our own win on home soil, & it was especially touching when Nestor thanked his family. The Bryans were also very graceful about their loss, & I was very impressed with the way Mike played (not Bob though, he didn't get many of his first serves in =P).
The length of the doubles match & its trophy presentation left us with just a lil more than 20 minutes to eat. So instead of going out to the food tent, we decided to buy some food at the stadium snack bar & eat in our seats. Thankfully we didn't leave the place, 'cause shortly after we finished our food the singles final began. The crowd erupted when Nadal walked in, & just like you always see on TV, he was bouncing up & down & ready to go the minute the toss began. He's everything you've heard & read about, ridiculously fit (his arms look even bigger in person), unbelievably agile, & just plays mind-blowing tennis. The match wasn't as great as it could've been, but I don't think anyone expected it to be considering he was playing Kiefer. The 3rd game of the 2nd set was undoubtedly the most memorable part of the whole match, but when Kiefer failed to break Nadal after 6 deuces, I knew Nadal would sail his way to a win. After only an hour & a half the match was over, & Nadal celebrated by first doing his trademark fistpump & then lifting his arms to the sky. It was a deserving victory & he was every bit as humble & modest as can be during his speech. I've come to really admire him (although still nowhere close to the way I admire Roger =P), & I hope he continues to bring us entertaining tennis. I sure wouldn't mind watching him play again, but in the meantime, I'd much rather watch Roger, lol (still can't believe he didn't make the finals...<sigh>).
After the match we hung around the stadium some more for the crowd to dissipate, during which I took (a lot) more shots of Nadal with his trophy. Then we browsed the tents once again for freebies & this time we got quite a few, lol. I even got a free Rogers Cup bag & 6 sample bottles of L'Oreal Men's cream, thanks to this lady who just came up to me & gave me her & her husband's share. xD
I've uploaded all the pictures to Picasa since there's just too many. Here are a few key ones...
P.S. El & I couldn't stop laughing every time Nadal came to our side to receive serve. Why?? 'Cause of this (yes we're very immature xP).
Another year, another memorable day spent at the Rexall Centre...=)
Got there around the same time as last year, as El & I were hoping that, once again, we would catch one of the players (in this case, Nadal) on a practice court. We couldn't find him at first, even after having checked every court around the place, so we decided to just browse the tents for tennis equipments & freebies. It seemed to us, however, that this year's tents were quite dull. Nothing was really interesting (they didn't even have the giant racquets for you to play with anymore...=\) & they didn't really give out good free stuff, lol (or so we thought, at the time). After a while we noticed people were gathering around one of the practice courts, & that tipped me off that Nadal was playing. And he was. Unfortunately, he was on the farthest of 3 courts, so it wasn't accessible to us "peasants" (you get to go to the other side, ie. right next to his court, if you were a VIP =P), but we could still watch him from afar if we wanted. And that's exactly what we did for about half an hour, although I don't know if it was the distance or the fact that Nadal's game doesn't have as much variety as Justine, his practice just didn't engage me as much. Anyway, we left for the doubles match after, & this time we were actually excited about the match 'cause it featured our very own hero Daniel Nestor (who just completed a career Golden Slam, wooo!! =D). When we got to our seats, I was ecstatic to see how close we were (literally just 5 or 6 rows away from the court), which only made me more excited about the matches coming up. I ended up missing the doubles players' entrance 'cause I was in the bathroom (boo), but that certainly didn't take anything away from what turned out to be an excellent match. Both Nestor/Zimonjic & the Bryans showed why they're the top teams in the world in the first 2 sets, so when it came down the super-tiebreak, you really couldn't tell who would win. Things looked grim when Nestor/Zimonjic were down 3-6 in the tiebreak, but somehow they managed to hold themselves together & win the next 7 points & the match (funny story: an overwhelming number of people thought the match was over when it got to 8-6, only to see soon after that the players continued playing; everyone stood up & cheered while I screamed "IT'S NOT OVER!!" at the top of my lungs...xD I ended up having to explain to the people in front & behind that for a SUPER-tiebreak, it ends at 10, not 7, lol). It sure was exciting for us Canadians to see one of our own win on home soil, & it was especially touching when Nestor thanked his family. The Bryans were also very graceful about their loss, & I was very impressed with the way Mike played (not Bob though, he didn't get many of his first serves in =P).
The length of the doubles match & its trophy presentation left us with just a lil more than 20 minutes to eat. So instead of going out to the food tent, we decided to buy some food at the stadium snack bar & eat in our seats. Thankfully we didn't leave the place, 'cause shortly after we finished our food the singles final began. The crowd erupted when Nadal walked in, & just like you always see on TV, he was bouncing up & down & ready to go the minute the toss began. He's everything you've heard & read about, ridiculously fit (his arms look even bigger in person), unbelievably agile, & just plays mind-blowing tennis. The match wasn't as great as it could've been, but I don't think anyone expected it to be considering he was playing Kiefer. The 3rd game of the 2nd set was undoubtedly the most memorable part of the whole match, but when Kiefer failed to break Nadal after 6 deuces, I knew Nadal would sail his way to a win. After only an hour & a half the match was over, & Nadal celebrated by first doing his trademark fistpump & then lifting his arms to the sky. It was a deserving victory & he was every bit as humble & modest as can be during his speech. I've come to really admire him (although still nowhere close to the way I admire Roger =P), & I hope he continues to bring us entertaining tennis. I sure wouldn't mind watching him play again, but in the meantime, I'd much rather watch Roger, lol (still can't believe he didn't make the finals...<sigh>).
After the match we hung around the stadium some more for the crowd to dissipate, during which I took (a lot) more shots of Nadal with his trophy. Then we browsed the tents once again for freebies & this time we got quite a few, lol. I even got a free Rogers Cup bag & 6 sample bottles of L'Oreal Men's cream, thanks to this lady who just came up to me & gave me her & her husband's share. xD
I've uploaded all the pictures to Picasa since there's just too many. Here are a few key ones...
P.S. El & I couldn't stop laughing every time Nadal came to our side to receive serve. Why?? 'Cause of this (yes we're very immature xP).
7.23.2008
Overcast
I'm seriously tired of trying to find the silver lining in every bad situation.
Why can't things just go smoothly for once??
I'm seriously tired of trying to find the silver lining in every bad situation.
Why can't things just go smoothly for once??
7.10.2008
Rub & Tug
So I've installed Highslide to replace Lightbox for the purpose of image display on this site...now this isn't permanent, I'm just giving it a try 'cause I really like the "expand" & "click & drag" features (you can also open multiple images & then re-arrange them on the page however you like). Tell me which one you guys prefer & I'll decide whether to keep it or not. Anyway, here are some pictures to demonstrate (I've also changed it for the Summerlicious pics below). I took these a few days ago to show the "marks" (literally) of a crazy gamer (whose products all happen to be white)...xP
So I've installed Highslide to replace Lightbox for the purpose of image display on this site...now this isn't permanent, I'm just giving it a try 'cause I really like the "expand" & "click & drag" features (you can also open multiple images & then re-arrange them on the page however you like). Tell me which one you guys prefer & I'll decide whether to keep it or not. Anyway, here are some pictures to demonstrate (I've also changed it for the Summerlicious pics below). I took these a few days ago to show the "marks" (literally) of a crazy gamer (whose products all happen to be white)...xP
7.05.2008
Dish To Relish
It's that time of the year again!! =D
This year, I'll be going to two different restaurants for Summerlicious. Tonight I went to my first one @ Wildfire Steakhouse with Eleanor (after spending an entire afternoon wasting our energy on Top Spin 3, lol). It was one of the very few restaurants whose menu seemed promising when I browsed through the list, & I was wondering if it'd taste as good as it sounds on paper...
The restaurant turned out to be packed, & it was then that I realized why they insisted on making me confirm my reservations two days earlier. Our table was located in a lil private room at the back, where there was no more than 5 tables, with ours right next to the door (in fact my back was facing the entrance/exit when I sat down). The place was very dimly lit, as you'd expect with any fancy steakhouse =P, so the pictures below are once again very blurry & not totally representative of what the food really looked like.
Appetizer: Crab Cakes
I've always been a huge fan of crab cakes, yet I don't get to have them very often, so when I saw this on the menu I knew I had to get it. When I received the dish I was quite surprised by what the crab cakes LOOKED like, in that they had a hard, cutlet-like shell that I don't normally see (I guess that's what it's like when they're double-breaded). As a result it wasn't flaky (ie. can't be broken down with just a fork) so I actually had to cut it with a knife & fork like a piece of meat, lol. The odd look aside, this was one hell of a crab cake. It was crunchy on the outside (& very very hot, I almost burned myself xP) but smooth on the inside. I don't know how they did it but it had a buttery feel to it...it was almost like eating potato pancakes, except with crabs, lol. All in all, I was very impressed.
Entrée: Sterling Silver New York Striploin
I was expecting A LOT from this dish, since I'm a steak lover & have had it at almost every big restaurant that you can name. So this wasn't as great as I had hoped, mostly 'cause the steak wasn't as fatty as I normally prefer (I know, it's a striploin, but come on =P). It was still a solid dish, I think, & would definitely win over any meat lover. I just wish it had something more to it, I guess. The mashed potatoes were good, although I ended up eating Eleanor's "wasabi-infused" version that came with her salmon since she doesn't like wasabi, lol. I enjoyed that very much since it was different & I LOVE wasabi. The only thing that bothered me was that I had to pay extra for the peppercorn sauce (which was good) but I wasn't told explicitly about it, ugh. I think the steak would've been even duller if it weren't for the sauce though.
Dessert: Mocha Cappuccino Mousse Cake
BY FAR the best part of the whole dinner, & that's saying a lot considering the crab cakes & the steak were impressive enough. I just can't describe the feeling when I had the first bite...it was just sugar heaven. It was smooth & creamy & required absolutely no chewing. The different tastes of the different layers slowly spread through my mouth as the cake melted & the high just went straight to my head. xP I was savouring every bite & didn't want that feeling to go away, lol. I have to say though I barely tasted any mocha, which wasn't a big deal but it could've made the cake less sweet & therefore less filling (as much as I loved it I don't think I could've had another one). But this cake definitely deserves the "orgy in my mouth" status. xD Two thumbs way up!!
This was certainly one of the best dining experiences I've had with Summerlicious...I've never had a bad one, really, but this one takes the prize for having three dishes that were all delicious. The atmosphere of the place was also a lot more welcoming & intimate than some other restaurants that I've been to. I'd highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a fancy meal from time to time. =)
Next up: Bymark!! (WAAAAA!!!!!)
P.S. I also took a picture of the steak knife 'cause I thought it was pretty cool. =P
It's that time of the year again!! =D
This year, I'll be going to two different restaurants for Summerlicious. Tonight I went to my first one @ Wildfire Steakhouse with Eleanor (after spending an entire afternoon wasting our energy on Top Spin 3, lol). It was one of the very few restaurants whose menu seemed promising when I browsed through the list, & I was wondering if it'd taste as good as it sounds on paper...
The restaurant turned out to be packed, & it was then that I realized why they insisted on making me confirm my reservations two days earlier. Our table was located in a lil private room at the back, where there was no more than 5 tables, with ours right next to the door (in fact my back was facing the entrance/exit when I sat down). The place was very dimly lit, as you'd expect with any fancy steakhouse =P, so the pictures below are once again very blurry & not totally representative of what the food really looked like.
Appetizer: Crab Cakes
I've always been a huge fan of crab cakes, yet I don't get to have them very often, so when I saw this on the menu I knew I had to get it. When I received the dish I was quite surprised by what the crab cakes LOOKED like, in that they had a hard, cutlet-like shell that I don't normally see (I guess that's what it's like when they're double-breaded). As a result it wasn't flaky (ie. can't be broken down with just a fork) so I actually had to cut it with a knife & fork like a piece of meat, lol. The odd look aside, this was one hell of a crab cake. It was crunchy on the outside (& very very hot, I almost burned myself xP) but smooth on the inside. I don't know how they did it but it had a buttery feel to it...it was almost like eating potato pancakes, except with crabs, lol. All in all, I was very impressed.
Entrée: Sterling Silver New York Striploin
I was expecting A LOT from this dish, since I'm a steak lover & have had it at almost every big restaurant that you can name. So this wasn't as great as I had hoped, mostly 'cause the steak wasn't as fatty as I normally prefer (I know, it's a striploin, but come on =P). It was still a solid dish, I think, & would definitely win over any meat lover. I just wish it had something more to it, I guess. The mashed potatoes were good, although I ended up eating Eleanor's "wasabi-infused" version that came with her salmon since she doesn't like wasabi, lol. I enjoyed that very much since it was different & I LOVE wasabi. The only thing that bothered me was that I had to pay extra for the peppercorn sauce (which was good) but I wasn't told explicitly about it, ugh. I think the steak would've been even duller if it weren't for the sauce though.
Dessert: Mocha Cappuccino Mousse Cake
BY FAR the best part of the whole dinner, & that's saying a lot considering the crab cakes & the steak were impressive enough. I just can't describe the feeling when I had the first bite...it was just sugar heaven. It was smooth & creamy & required absolutely no chewing. The different tastes of the different layers slowly spread through my mouth as the cake melted & the high just went straight to my head. xP I was savouring every bite & didn't want that feeling to go away, lol. I have to say though I barely tasted any mocha, which wasn't a big deal but it could've made the cake less sweet & therefore less filling (as much as I loved it I don't think I could've had another one). But this cake definitely deserves the "orgy in my mouth" status. xD Two thumbs way up!!
This was certainly one of the best dining experiences I've had with Summerlicious...I've never had a bad one, really, but this one takes the prize for having three dishes that were all delicious. The atmosphere of the place was also a lot more welcoming & intimate than some other restaurants that I've been to. I'd highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a fancy meal from time to time. =)
Next up: Bymark!! (WAAAAA!!!!!)
P.S. I also took a picture of the steak knife 'cause I thought it was pretty cool. =P
