Buns, Picks and other stuff

I went to both Buns and Picks today. It was my first time going to Buns, and it's delicious:





Then I stopped back at Picks for a Kogo:



Here's a kind of flower at the grocery store that I had never seen before:



A mural on the wall next to a torn-down building. I wonder how long ago it was that a pack of 20 smokes was 25 cents?



And here's the delicious roast boar that Steph made on Monday night:





We had been having a couple of days of really hot weather and finally had a thunderstorm to cool things of yesterday. Except it suddenly turned into a flash monsoon for about 5 minutes:



During the monsoon:



And after:



We lost the power for a few minutes, and this morning I saw some downed power lines and broken tree branches lying around.

View of an uncertain future

Sigh.

I'm not so good at stitching frames in Paint Shop Pro so here.

Tamtams and more hotpot

Last Saturday I went to Steph's place, we watched some anime, and I went to bed after that. His friend Mytz arrived from Toronto on Sunday morning to stay for the long weekend. On Sunday we went to the tams and met up with a whole bunch of people.

First we stopped in Chinatown for some pastries. I brought them to the Holiday Inn in Chinatown to show them the beautiful room with the path over the koi pond:




Here we are in the mirror on the wall:



And here's a delicious-looking taro mousse cake at Callia:



Then we walked to the 80 bus stop, took the bus to the corner of Ave. du Parc and Mount Royal and then walked down Mount Royal to stop at the Dagwoods for some yummy sandwiches, the SAQ for lots of booze (peach schnapps, vodka and soho) and the Provigo for some ice, club soda and grenadine to mix with.

Then we made our way back up Mount Royal to the Tams. Here are Steph and Mytz:



Here's Steph with Richard's breastplate and shield:



Some baby dolls wearing chainmail loll. I don't know whose they were, I came across them as we were leaving:



Here I am with another Sara! And our names are spelled the same! She's one of Chris' friends:



Here's Elias covered in dirt. The ground was so dry that there were huge clouds of dust raised up by all the fighting:





Here's Elias and Mimi:



Carlo flopped on the ground with Elias beside him, we were making jokes about using him as a table with his shield lol:



We sat and drank in the shade all day, it was really nice :D Then we eventually all got ready and left and went back to the Hotpot again. We were 12 people there, Elias, Dave, me, Kris, Steph, Scott, Mytz, Chris, Mike, Richard, Carlo and Sara. It was great :D

Here's the two Sara's and the two (K)Chris':



And here's Scott and Kris



Lol I'm surprised they even let us in with the guys looking like they did lol. They washed up once they got inside though. I guess they figured we looked really hungry and would make good business :P

Korean Oddities, Picks, and Pics

This week I decided to stop downtown to visit a Korean/Japanese store on St. Catherines and ended up going to Picks, a burger place I had read about, as well.

Here are some odds and ends I got at the Asian store, some walnut cakes, which had red bean paste and walnuts inside, they're really yummy with hot coffee:





Some noodles with funny packaging, which I haven't tried yet:



And some fish sausage, which was ok but I won't buy it again:





When I read this review I decided that I had to go there sometime, and I happened across it as I was walking down St-Catherine looking at all the other restos. I'm so glad I did! I should have taken a pic of the place from the outside, but I forgot. Oh well, next time. It's a really tiny place with 3 stools at the window and 3 chairs at a table (they've removed the atm and garbage cans since the picture in the review was taken), and a counter where you pick what you want on your burger by highlighting the options on a slip of paper. I got a burger with pickle, lettuce, smoked gouda, bacon, and aioli:



It was amazing. And of course I had to get one of their Kogos:



Which was also amazing. The batter is light and fluffy and crispy, not at all like regular pogo batter. SO much better. I can't wait to go back sometime!

and I came across a hotel flying a Habs flag lol:



Here are some other pics I took this week. Here's a moth that was on the wall outside at work:



And some spring flowers growing on a bush I found while taking a walk along the Lachine Canal during my lunch hour:

Tamtams & Hotpot

Last Sunday I had so much fun. I went to the tamtams with my old friend/roommate Kris, who I hadn't seen in a year or so. We met up with Richard and Carlo, and I saw another friend who I haven't seen in about 4 years or so, Chris :D We stopped at the SAQ beforehand for some creme de cassis and vodka which we finished off during the day. Here's a bumblebeetle I saw in the underground parking lot of the Provigo where we stopped for some ice (I love beetles):



We spent the day sitting in the shade, drinking and watching the guys fight. Here's a video I took during the day:



Here's Kris and Chris:



When we were leaving later on we came across a weird-shaped tree:



And Kris decided to wear Richard's breastplate for a while:



Afterwards we went to Chinatown to look for a restaurant to eat at. We wanted to eat hotpot, so we tried going to Mon Nan, Richard thought they served it there, but not any more. Here are the guys in front of Mon Nan:



Here's inside Mon Nan:



So we wandered around and then Chris spotted this place:





Here's inside:



So we went there, it's an all-you-can-eat hotpot buffet for $20, plus free beer. It was soooo good! I had never had hotpot before but had been meaning to try it for a while now. Everyone loved it, and we all agreed to come back this weekend too after the Tams on Sunday. And Kris said "yeah I'd like to try it sober next time" while looking pointedly at me, as I had gotten him quite drunk lol. Here he is holding his chopsticks backwards lol:



Here's Chris and Richard:



Here's my plate loaded with goodies, lamb, beef, seafood, gourd, bamboo, mushrooms, coriander, spinach, glass noodles, egg cakes etc:



During the meal they started playing happy birthday at some point. And they they played another version. And another, and another... they ended up playing different versions of happy birthday for over an hour! loll. And then, Christmas music! lolll.

At one point Richard asked the waitress if he could get some ginger ale. She said sure and left. She never came back lol. So he finally flagged her down and asked again if they had any ginger ale. She looked confused, and he explained he wanted soft drinks. She still looked confused, so he tried saying "carbonated beverages?" to which she replied "Ok you want milk?" lolllll

We all had to hold ourselves back from laughing at what she said until she left lol. Richard finally managed to locate a soft drink fountain, and came back with some orange crush, explaining that he had gotten showered with it because the fountain wasn't working properly lol. We ate until we couldn't eat any more, and finally left. It was a great evening :D

Here's an interesting building I spotted across the street from the Hotpot:



Richard and Chris stopped for some bubble tea afterward, and I couldn't believe they still had room for anything lol.

I can't wait to go back there tomorrow! Sober this time (mostly...) :D