Happy Thanksgiving! And Another Weekly Recap

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!  I struggle mightily to get my blog posts written any faster than 1 per week lately.  Sigh.

Last I left off, I was heading to do a marathon showing of apartments bright and early on a Saturday morning.  I can't believe that was only a week ago.  The agent and I managed to hit up 9 units in 8 buildings from 9:15am until 1:15pm, and the entire thing pretty much fully discouraged me from any old buildings and any buildings that are not at sea (or pretty damn close to sea) level.  I was sadly reminded of the poor state of apartments in this ridiculous market. 

The tight bedrooms and bathrooms are terribly depressing at the best of times, but then when you see them with the gaudy fixtures, ugly furnishings and things full of just generally such poor taste (I really don't know how else to describe it), you get really, really depressed.  Here are some examples.  And all of these apartments are asking nearly US$10,000 a month.  I really don't understand the appeal of living half-way up or on the peak, either.  To me, it just seems to make you feel more hemmed in, and have to deal with how to get up and down the mountain every day.  Upper Happy Valley and Jardine's Crescent have been completely crossed off of my list. 

 

After my viewing, I rushed home, had lunch, and then headed to the Aberdeen Marina Club with Michael and Lola, to finally meet our friends' baby boy.  He just turned 4 months and was very strong, able to do tummy time for long amounts of time, roll over, and lift his head up super high.  Looking at him and Lola together, it's really amazing to me how much babies change and how quickly they learn. 

The Aberdeen Marina Club has fantastic kids' facilities and Lola loved them.  She kept playing, and kissed the dogs in their "pet shop," and pushed around their medical cart, and played with their police car... and walked and walked around their center area (with one hand on the middle couch for support at all times, of course).  It was great to see her have so much fun.

Then, after tucking an exhausted Lola into bed, I headed out to Chaiwala on Wyndham Street for dinner, to enjoy girls' night (such a rare occurrence nowadays!).  The restaurant is actually located in the basement, and the key to finding it is to find this red door.  I thought the décor in the restaurant was amazing (full of all of the vintage knickknacks and thoughtful, quirky touches that I love) but the food was... okay.  I liked their naan the best.  Most of their other "highly recommended" dishes fell pretty flat, in my opinion.  But the space... I could not fault the space.  And of course I could not fault the company, either.  It was a funny change of pace from old times though - we all were sitting there in our comfy pants and flats and the night was over by 10 pm. 

 

 

 On Sunday, we had a playdate with our friends and their baby boy, as well as their dogs.  Lola had such (I repeat, such) a good time.   She was only timid for a very little bit when we first arrived, and she warmed up immediately.  She was so happy when she discovered there were dogs (they were in the master bedroom behind a safety gate when we first arrived).  It was so cute when the dog came up to the gate and licked her hands because she kept giggling at the sensation. She was completely delighted when one was allowed out to play with her, and not at all scared even though he was a pretty sizeable dog.

Here, she is trying to pet him, and he is very eager to be petted.


The week was surprisingly busy for me - due to an ongoing but sporadic but always urgent litigation matter that I've been helping with, and for a few other unlucky reasons, I had a very crazy Monday and Tuesday.  The week was also really busy because we were hosting a women and wine tasting event on Thursday (I know, on Thanksgiving day!  What blasphemy - it wasn't my idea). 

In an ambitious leap from our plan last year, we decided to plan a full wine pairing dinner menu .  It involved culling guest lists, planning a keynote speaker, arranging with sommeliers and wine distributors, negotiating with the restaurant, planning a seating chart... basically, it was like planning a wedding (but on someone else's budget).

The venue itself (Bibo) was fantastic - we had the whole place to ourselves.  I thought the cocktail hour was perfect - people had the opportunity to mingle and meet in a very organic, non-forced, and warm setting.  But once we were settled into our respective tables, the long sit-down dinner felt a bit too extensive. 

I was also really, really disappointed with the restaurant, as well as with our wine merchant/sales person.  The restaurant failed on many points - they were 45 minutes behind schedule in serving our first course (which was just the amuse bouche, for God's sake), they served food while our speaker was talking, they were inconsistent with their pours, they failed to offer coffee or tea, etc.  As for our sommelier, the guy was seriously useless.  He was supposed to give a 5-10 minute overview on the wines we were serving that day, and not only did he completely chicken out and didn't give the speech, he also failed to introduce any of the wines that we served, except for one (ONE! Out of SIX!), and in the quietest possible voice so that I think more than half the room would have been hard pressed to hear him.  I kept shooting him stares and trying to encourage him to speak, but to no avail.

What, is there something intimidating about a room of 30 professional women?  Anyway, despite these hiccups, it was still a fun evening.  This does not deter me from planning another event, it only makes me more determined to make the next one better!

 

The area that we had set up for the dinner and tasting was really beautiful.  The artwork is lovely and whimsical, and there are not one but two Banksy's.

 

  

 Here are pictures of the foods that we had:
 

 

 

Then, finally, it was the end of the week and I celebrated with my associates at work by treating them all to a lunch at Shake Shack.  I figured, how much more American can you get?  Michael and I celebrated Thanksgiving dinner at home together on Friday night with Peking duck, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, and some good red wine.

On Saturday morning bright and early, I took Lola to the Maggie & Rose club in Repulse Bay to celebrate a friend's son's birthday.  Consistent with the weather during the week, the day was absolutely beautiful.  Should we live on the south side?  We would feel more like we were living at a beach resort...

 
The birthday party was lovely on the roof deck overlooking Repulse Bay, and gave me some further food for thought on our next new neighborhood (if we move).