Just a taste of Kansas City

Headed to the Midwest to spend the holidays this past Christmas.  I didn't know anything about Kansas City, but when I went there, I found many people who loved it there.  I experienced only a taste of what this city has to offer, and was quite pleasantly surprised and hope to be back again.

Visitkc.com offers great insight into what activities to do, attractions to see and restaurants to eat at, as well as discounts and deals.

Some tourist highlights include the following:

Union Station - The station turned 100 years old in 2014 and has been magnificently been restored.  It was totally decorated for the holiday season, with model trains and nutcrackers.  I'm sure New Year's was fabulous here.

Science City - A wonderful place for all ages.  The Maker Lab was closed during our visit, but many other interactive exhibits kept us intrigued, including Mr. E. Hotel with many illusions, Astronaut in Training and Genetics.

Crown Center - This mall is attached to Hallmark headquarters and includes their store Halls.  It is full of attractions, such as LegoLand and SeaLife,  A great place to take families.

The Federal Reserve Money Museum was a neat place.  Missouri has 2 regional locations and Kansas City is 10-J.  Any bills with the letter J were made here.  Old bills are no longer burnt, they are shredded, up to $4 million per day.  This means free money to visitors!

Famous for BBQ, Kansas City has a lot to offer for meat eaters.  We tried a few noted restaurants and always tried to eat BBQ when we stopped for a quick bite.

The famous Jack Stack BBQ was a hit with our group.  We tried lamb ribs, burnt ends, prime beef ribs, pork baby back ribs and  chicken.

  But Q39 was just as good.  But with take out for lunch, check your order, they got ours wrong.  And we didn't try as much because it was a smaller meal.  The pork belly was delicious!

Also good in the States are Mexican Restaurants.  El Patron was great!  Mixed meat fajitas and tamales.  Great service, tasty margaritas, good prices.  

Town Topic burger joint is also a place to note.  It's been open 24 hours everyday for 75 years.  It's a small diner, with friendly staff, unbelievable prices and great burgers.












Bourbon is the liquor of choice here, but I found a new favourite, Ginger liqueur!  It goes with many things, like soda, 7-up, apple and cranberry juice.  Liquor is so cheap in the States compared to Canada and Gomer's had a great selection. They also have local craft breweries, like Boulevard as well.





There were a few shopping districts, but Country Club Plaza was my favourite.  The buildings are modelled after architecture in Seville, Spain.  From American Thanksgiving to January, Plaza Lights are on all the buildings making it such a festive stop, even just for coffee.


Brookside was also pretty neat.  Again, theme coloured buildings and a few cool shops like A Store Called Stuff and World Window, both of which carry work from local artists.

Famous for live jazz, Kansas City has music almost every night of the week.

We were fortunate to have gone to the Pheonix Jazz Club to enjoy 2 local musicians, trumpeter Lonnie McFadden and pianist Mark Lowrey.  The club was packed at 4pm on First Fridays (the first Friday of each month when the city celebrates culture, art and music).  Drinks were only $5 during happy hour.

We also saw the Blisstonians at Chaz on the Plaza in the Raphael Hotel.  A wonderful intimate lounge.


Another venture out was to Westport night life district.  With the holidays, not all the bars were having their usual weeknight music offerings, like dueling pianos, so we ended up at Harry's for a drink and some chill time.

Knowing nothing about Kansas City before I went, I am definitely hoping to visit you again.  More music, more BBQ, more fun!

Work life balance in Nanaimo

I had to go from Vancouver to Nanaimo for an overnight work trip.  At first, I was quite reluctant, but then changed my perspective.  It would be a chance for me to go on a peaceful ferry ride across the Georgia Straight.  It would be a chance to discover Nanaimo again, I think I was last there in the late 90's.  And it would be a chance to get away from my normal day-to-day work routine.

I went into Nanaimo on an early afternoon ferry, allowing me to check into the Best Western Dorchester in downtown Nanaimo and have a quick walk around before my meeting at the office.  From there, I had some recommendations about where to have dinner, but resorted to Minnoz at The Coast Hotel since it was close by.  My steak medallions were great, and they even had gluten, egg and dairy free dessert for me, a raw torte, that was a bonus!

It also gave me a chance to read the tourist pamphlets I had picked up along the way.  I was on TripAdvisor checking out what to see, where to go, assessing what I would have time for.

I had already meandered down Church St., which was the Arts District.  It was great for me because I'm also an artist and love going into craft stores, galleries and boutiques.  I really liked House of Indigo, the Artisans Studio, Artzi Stuff had awesome artisan work, and Hills Native Store.  If I needed another stainless steel thermos, I would've bought one with a sandblasted native design on it, they were so nice.

I also did some sightseeing, the Bastion, the cannons, the anchor, the Front St. waterfront, Diana Krall Plaza and the Lighthouse Bistro & Pub.

I had some great meals during my 2 day stay as well.  I love checking reviews on TripAdvisor to see what's consistent and well-liked.  I had breakfast at 2 Chefs.  They had advertised gluten, egg and dairy free options, and I got the sweet sausage with homemade ketchup, gluten free bread with homemade jam and roasted tomatoes.  It was such a pleasant start to my morning.




I stopped into Powerhouse Living Foods for lunch.  I had the Hawaiian BBQ pizza.  It had a seed crust, some sort of nut cream as a spread, greens and veggies on top.  I downed it all with fresh juice.











After work, I had the chance to walk over to the Old City Quarter before heading home on the evening ferry.  It was so quaint, several old shops, bakeries, etc.  I was quite impressed with the amount of baked goods I could find that suited my food restrictions.  This included A Wee Cupcakery and the bakery within Spirit Bear Coffee in Fitzwilliam Gate.  In Gallery Row, I found some great work from Caldera Glass.

Overall, I was able to enjoy so much that I sometimes felt that I was on vacation, wandering down a street, wondering what I would find.  It was great to have such work/life balance in those 2 days, that I was glad to have had the opportunity to rediscover Nanaimo.

Highlights in Edmonton

We booked a last minute vacation to Edmonton after Hurricane Odile hit land at Los Cabos and forced us to cancel our Mexican vacation.  We were disappointed that we would not get to enjoy sandy beaches, hot weather and lazy days, but were thankful that we were not in harm's way, and felt sympathy for all those affected.

We arrived in Edmonton late on a Monday night. We were so thankful that we still had a chance for time away from work and home, and grateful that we weren't imposing on family members on such short notice.

The first few days were lazy; we enjoyed the unusually warm weather 25 - 29C, walks in Mill Creek Ravine Park with a dog and 1 year old, and enjoying local restaurants.









Our food highlights include several highly popular restaurants.  First, Padmanadi, a vegan Indonesian restaurant, where the "meat" is formed to look like the real thing.  The food was super tasty, even for us meat lovers.





We also had take-out from MEAT; great BBQ ribs, pulled pork and andouille sausage!  









Tres Carnales was a great Mexican restaurant, where the tacos were so tasty even for their small size.  

We also went to Narayanni's, South African Indian buffet.  Lots of options for my gluten, egg and dairy sensitivities.  The curry lamb and eggplant were our unanimous favourites.

Of course, a shopping trip to West Edmonton Mall is a must.  We were overwhelmed with the size, even being from Metro Vancouver.  We don't have Simon's department store, so that was a good place to start. Lots of entertainment for families, including a pirate show, sea lions, ice rink and more.

We wandered downtown for an afternoon, going to Churchill Square, City Hall and the Alberta Craft Council, which had wonderful pieces of art.  As an artisan, I always like to support local and visit farmer's markets.  There were quite a few here, and we went to Mother's Market, the only indoor 3 day market, and the Old Strathcona Market on Saturday.  Both were impressive, with many vendors with organic produce or meats, local crafts and food.

A walk along popular Whyte Avenue on a sunny afternoon gave us a chance to go in and out of different shops, bakeries and cafes.  Remedy Cafe was a good choice for my diet; I was so happy to have a chocolate muffin!

The #1 attraction for Edmonton according to TripAdvisor is The Winspear and #2 is the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra.  We had the chance to go to the season opener and have the opportunity to hear Paul Jacobs, world renowned organist.  What a beautiful venue and fabulous merge of 2 types of music.  Great Saturday night date.

We took the High Level Bridge Streetcar on another sunny day.  What a great ride, with stunning views over the Saskatchewan River, and a bit of history from the volunteers operating the train.  It was definitely a highlight of the trip.  

We got off the streetcar to head to University of Alberta to enjoy a free afternoon concert by the University Symphony Orchestra for Alumni Weekend.

Over the week, we had a chance to wind down, visit with family and see many highlights of Edmonton.  It was a great time; we were so glad to have great weather, family to host us and a chance to visit a 1 year old, seeing the progress he's making!

Trapped in Vegas

I had read about these games where you and your friends are trapped in a room and have to figure out clues to escape within a certain length of time.  I saw a deal on Social Shopper and took advantage of it to bring a team together to experience this.

A group of 5 of us went to Trapped Canada (Richmond location) and chose the Wake Up in Vegas theme.  If you think it's like Hangover the movie, it's similar but not as entertaining, there are no live animals or actors in our room. We were given very brief instructions,  shown where the timer was, where the "push for help / hints" button was and the staff closed the door; we had 45 minutes to figure things out and escape.

Each of us went scrambling around a small room turning furniture around to see what we could find, opening drawers, looking at photos on the walls, etc.  Without spoiling it for others, I will tell you that almost everything in the room is incorporated into a clue.  When we figured out the clues, it would give us a combination to open a lock box which in turn gave us a further clue. When we got the combo for the "exit" door, we were surprised to see yet another room with more boxes with locks!!!  We were already 20 minutes into the game and now had more clues to figure out.

I will say that it was a happy ending and we got out with 4 minutes to spare with the help of a pen in my purse.  I can say no more, except that they put your cell phones in safe storage before you begin, but I kept my purse with me.  They said everything we would need will be in the room, which was true, except a pen and paper sure helps you figure out complicated math rather than try to do it in your head or in the air with the added pressure of a timer going.

We had a fabulous time, and got photos to prove our victory.  Thanks 5th Wheels for bringing your brains!

Event Date: Jun 21, 2014

Trivia shows you how much random stuff you know

Event: Mr. Brownstone Trivia Tuesdays When my friend invited me to trivia night, I was expecting a digital screen for the questions and people shouting out answers. We showed up at Mr. Brownstone on Main Street, Vancouver and there was only 1 free table left. Looks like huge groups reserve their table for a fun Tuesday night gathering.  If you're considering going, better call ahead. We signed up with the host, IQ2000, and chose a team name; this in itself was a daunting task for a group of girls. We were given a 5 page booklet, each page represented one round of trivia.  My friend was so excited! IQ2000 started with the theme of the night, World Oceans Day and we were told of the prizes, one prize was signed by David Suzuki but somehow, a bottle of wine gave the most cheers.  All trivia questions were tied to this theme.  In the first 2 rounds, we did alright; in fact, someone in our group knew quite a bit of random stuff!  Round #3 was the music round and we didn't do as well as we thought.  I guess our group was not so well-rounded, as there were songs which we didn't recognize at all..  We were starting to doubt our ability to win the prize. Rounds 4 and 5 of trivia were definitely harder, with questions from geography, history to current events, music of all types and eras, sports, etc.  I think we need some young people, old people, girls and boys to get most of these.  No chance our team was winning the prize.  Even my friend was not so excited anymore. If you 'like' IQ2000 on Facebook, he gives you 2 free answers.  Today's were Pangaea and Seaborgium.  I don't have a clue what either of those is.  Thank God for teammates. When we swapped answers with another table for marking, we realized that some people really do know a lot of random stuff!  They probably won, but we weren't hanging around to find out.   IQ2000 was trying to pump up the crowd by giving away prizes and free drinks to the loudest team, so there's always a chance you'll win something.  But don't blame me if you come out of there thinking you're dumb, 'cause I did!  Event date: Jun 3