I can now say that I actually attended Gen Con, a four-day gaming convention. Going in, I expected to see people similar to those in the Math building at school, and see I did! (and now, I was one of them?!) . I'm glad that I found other activities to do while in Indianapolis to keep me sane, but at least I came back knowing how to play a few more games that I seem to like: Carcassone, Havana, and Egizia.
So what else did I do?
Yes, I went to the zoo, just like I had told everyone I would. And Trader Joe's. Despite going to the zoo on my own, I had a really good time.
Highlights?
Memorable quotes that I shouldn't repeat
Visiting the world's largest children's museum for free (every 1st Thursday evening of the month). We even ran out of time!
Interesting eats, including asian-style tacos, happy hour $3 deep-fried onion crisps, and deep-fried butter
Touching a shark
Seeing Abraham eat deep-fried butter
Deep-fried bacon (this was really delish: not-too-salty and crispy bacon deep-fried in light batter)
Touching an elephant
We ate some of the most interesting foods at the Indianapolis State Fair. Of course, there were the ones we didn't try, like chocolate-covered bacon (which I'm told is a norm now), deep-fried twinkies, oreos, snickers and other candy bars (which isn't new), and krispy kreme burgers (patties using donuts as the burgers - now that is death). I'm really happy that the guys decided to all come to the State Fair in the end, which made sharing the deep-fried foods more fun! It's a shame that it wasn't a week later, as we could've also seen Chris Tomlin and TobyMac in concert!
The worship service at the convention on the Sunday was really encouraging. It was encouraging to see that there were gamers who had more to this life than just gaming; a very nice contrast to the talk I sat in during the week, which essentially tried to use "critical thinking" to disprove biblical creationism. Their logic seemed to have a lot of syllogistic fallacies, yet they used the arguments to imply that because creation theory has flaws, evolution must then be true.
Anyway, here's a quick 5 min highlight video of our Indianapolis trip:
Would I go again? Maybe if I had extra vacation to spare. The extra activities on the side and the company certainly made the trip more memorable. Without them, I don't know if I could last at Gen Con for the full amount of time.
This summer, I had quite a few adventures in the quest for good food. In the area of sweets, some of the more memorable are:
Saffron Passionfruit White Chocolate Ice Cream at Xococava (St. Clair area in Toronto)
The smoothness and "round" texture and taste of the passionfruit really gave it a fresh feel to it and would easily be my favourite ice cream here (maybe on par with Berthillon in Paris)
Earl Grey cake at La Bambouche in Toronto
At $4.75 a slice, it seems a little pricey, but the smooth texture, great tea taste, and it being not too sweet just hits the spot. This cake, along with the green tea cake at Yogi Berry (on Yonge Street in North York) are my two choices.
Bread and Bretzel
Upon stumbling on a local food blogger, Congee, You're My Baby's post about the availability of fresh egg tarts from a local bakery, I've been visiting Bread and Bretzel to sample an assortment of Chinese baked goods. Part of the mystery of this bakery is that they have a German facade and you really have to ask them what they have in terms of the Chinese buns and no-fixed prices. The first time, I received 6 coconut buns for $2. Upon inquiring about egg tarts, they suggested I call in, so they baked me a fresh dozen for $5 (at which point, the older lady seemed to disapprove the price he charged me). This time, I got 6 red bean buns for $5. When remarking that he charged me $2 last time, the answer was that because they were end-of-day bread (which seemed reasonable since I just showed up and asked what they had left). It's too bad that only the coconut buns are half decent; the egg tarts uses typical tart shells (not egg tart pastry shells) and the red bean buns lack filling and are slightly too sweet. Perhaps I should visit St. Jacob's market just to see what they sell there (and to get a better feel for the actual prices).
Cold Stone Creamery
Elena's recent post prompted me to share about my unintended visit to Tim Horton's in Cambridge. Every time I visit this Tim Hortons, it's because I'm early for an appointment in the plaza behind it. This time, I noticed that it had a Cold Stone Creamery inside! Not only does this Tim Hortons have a Cold Stone Creamery, it serves CHEDDAR cheese bagels! Ever since noticing that Timmy's don't carry the sun-dried tomato bagels anymore, I have had yet to find a better alternative, until this visit to Tim Hortons.
And because I had time to linger, I decided to ask about the prices of the ice cream, since I could not see the prices posted anywhere! The first lady I asked didn't know, so she had to ring one up to find out. But that seemed a hassle, so I got up and asked the manager for the prices, but the answer was more along the lines of "it depends" (on what you get).
So, I sat down and started working, reviewing a coworker's wireframes, and the manager wanders over and asks if he answered my questions sufficiently. He had noticed that I was writing notes and wonders if I was a mystery shopper! I wasn't, but I sure wanted to chat more about the ice cream - turns out, the prices don't show on the LCD menus until after breakfast (who would want ice cream for breakfast? :P), that each additional topping costs about $0.75 if you don't go for a signature feature, and that his personal choice (even before thinking of adding Cold Stone Creamery into his Tim Hortons) for quality is that Cold Stone Creamery seems to be better than Marble Slab (Elena's post seems to confirm that as well). He also told me where there was one in Kitchener, and printed out a sample receipt for me to compare it to Marble Slab prices (not with the coupons though!). I didn't buy any, nor did he offer me a sample to try that day, but now at least I know that Cold Stone offers a birthday club so I will try it then!
The Inside Vancouver blog featured an entry about White Spot recently. Reading through this article, I was reminded that White Spot was very much a part of my childhood: my father was the (General?) Manager at various White Spot locations across the Lower Mainland and thus, White Spot was a familiar reference in our household.
Though I recently discovered that very few locations have the carhop option still available (sad!), White Spot wasn't just about the food or the dining experience. In fact, despite liking the key-lime pie, strawberry tart, drinks that had grenadine in it {what must have been a shirley temple}, pirate paks and the very chocolate ice cream (and the toys: playmobil pirates and dinosaurs), and zoo sticks and mushroom caps, we had more than a few too many meals at White Spot.
But, I have memories beyond the food: our kindergarten class was given a kitchen tour of White Spot; my Holly Hobbie doll, Pam Pam was named by a White Spot employee (named after another employee), and we even ended up with White Spot memorabilia: strawberry towels, the legendary t-shirt (like the one on Inside Vancouver), old paper placemats, mugs, and even their radio commercials with their jingle on cassette. White Spot also had Christmas parties for staff and their families, with Santa Claus (and toys from Santa!) in good times and in leaner times, weathered through a strike.
Since then, White Spot has become almost something entirely different - with new menu items, redone interiors, the disappearance of the drive-in option in many locations, and new Triple-O fast food counters at gas stations and food courts, but it's definitely a nice reminder of home.
