Sunday, August 8, 2010

Saturday was Fun



This past Saturday was fun. I met up with my friends Diane, Daphne and Taku. Diane invited her friend Myron out too.

Our first stop was the Centennial College Campus near Broadview and Danforth. They had a bbq there with sausages, chicken and pork Souvlaki and other Greek related food items. It was to coincide with the annual Taste of the Danforth which is a street festival here in Toronto where they close off a stretch of road in the Greek area of town and set up stalls that sell food and other things related to Greece. There's music and other performances as well. This year they expected one million visitors over the 3-day event.

We didn't actually go down to Danforth to experience it. We were more than satisfied with the food we got at the college. Instead we decided to get our in-line skates out and go blading.

Originally we had thought about going around some of the local streets in the area. Our friend, Taku, lives close by and would have been able to show us some quiet roads to go along. In the end we decided to stay put and use the relatively empty parking lot there.

It was quite fun. We spent a couple of hours blading around. Except for the odd fall or two everyone emerged pretty much intact. We would have gone on a bit longer, but the security guard at the college kicked us out. There was a sign stating no skateboarding or in-line skating which we had chosen to ignore.

Next on the slate of things to do was visit nearby Todmorden Mills. From the City of Toronto website this is a description of it -

Set in the scenic Don Valley, Todmorden Mills Heritage Museum and Arts Centre is a complex of historic buildings which were once part of the small industrial community of Todmorden.

Today the site consists of two historic millers' homes dating from the early 19th century, the Brewery building and the recently renovated Papermill Theatre and Gallery. Adjoining the site is a 9.2 hectare wildflower preserve with walking trails exploring a number of natural habitats, including upland and bottomland forests, dry and wet meadows, swamp lands and a pond.

We went on a short guided tour of two of the homes there. I have to say I found it quite fascinating. I always love looking through old buildings and hearing stories of historical events.

We were all pretty tired after visiting Todmorden Mills. I think it was a combination of the walk there and going around the grounds and the time we spent in the sun in-line skating. It was still a bit early for dinner so we decided, sans Taku, to go to Tim Hortons to chill for a bit before grabbing dinner. Taku had to go home and do some shopping after.

We drove to the Tim Hortons across from the Shops of Don Mills. We went there because we wanted to grab dinner at the nearby Congee Queen afterwards. While there we ordered shrimp dumplings in noodle soup, slightly spicy, fried turnip cubes and a plate of beef and Chinese broccoli and a couple of bowls of white rice to eat. I think it was Myron's first time having some of those things. He was the only non-Asian in our group. I'm sure he enjoyed everything though. After dinner we took him to participate in another favorite Asian pastime - Karaoke.

We headed to a Korean place we often frequent up Yonge near Finch. Since she can read Korean Diane ran the show there. The buttons on huge remote control that run the machines there are all in Korean. If you go up to Richmond Hill you'll run into the same problem, only the remotes have Chinese characters instead.

Anyway, we drank beer and sang songs for three hours. Part way through Daphne went to grab a couple of tambourines and we banged on those as well. It was immensely fun. I forgot how much I enjoy going to Karaoke. The only thing I'd like to see changed is the book of songs have a section with artists/bands grouped together with their songs instead of just a list of songs in alphabetical order from random artists. It's just a suggestion...

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