Correr Es Mi Destino

Ottawa Tulips Festival – 2012 Edition

Zhu — Wed, 16 May 2012 12:00:44 +0000

Hard to believe that just a few weeks ago, we got a surprise snow fall. The weather recently got warmer and it always feels humid. With all the rain we had lately, the trees, grass and plants are chlorophyll green and I think this time I can say it’s spring. Finally. In May.

The opening weekend of the 2012 Tulips Festival was very warm, and most of the flowers had just bloomed. Dow’s Lake was packed and people were fighting to have their picture taken by the flower beds. Eh, this is Canada, we don’t get to see flowers other than at the grocery store for six months at the time!

Lovely sea of colours, isn’t it?

You can see the complete set of the Ottawa Tulips Festival on Flickr.

Ottawa Tulips Festival

Canadian Small Towns - Gananoque

Zhu — Mon, 14 May 2012 12:00:32 +0000

Even though I’m very much a city person and can’t imagine living in a place with a population of less than 500,000, I’m in love with Canadian small towns.

Over the year, we visit quite a lot of small towns, mostly in Ontario but also in the U.S. Some were just a stop on the road to or from somewhere, some were a getaway, but most of them were simply lovely.

It’s a cliché but the pace of life is different and people are friendlier than in the big cities. It’s also refreshing to see fewer franchises, more “mom and pop” stores, and fresher products. It also helps that Ontario is a lovely province, and that a lot of these towns are in a beautiful natural setting. Most small towns here really try hard to be welcoming, unique and original and they each have their own little quirks or attractions.

Last week, on our way back from Toronto, we decided to break the five-hour long drive in Gananoque instead of Kingston (home of the Tragically Hip!), our usual stop. We had been to Gananoque once before, in 2008, when exploring the Thousand Islands.

Our stop there was quick but very relaxing. As soon as we stepped out of the car, we noticed how quiet it was compared to Toronto and to the highway. We walked around Joel Stone Park and the marina, and enjoyed what probably is the calm before the storm for this touristic site.

You can see more small towns in the Ontario Travels set.

Gananoque and the St Lawrence

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Foodie Review: Vittoria Trattoria

Zhu — Sat, 12 May 2012 12:00:08 +0000

Apple Crumble and Cinnamon Ice Cream

I usually avoid eating in the Byward Market because some of Ottawa’s worse restaurants operate there, and because food can be pricey and mediocre. I always feel for tourists who end up there and pay big bucks for bad food.

But sometimes, there are nice surprises.

One of my foodie friends and I hesitated forever before heading to the Byward Market. She had been to Vittoria Trattoria before and had liked it. I was in the mood for pizza, but not the Pizza Pizza kind with five-inch thick dough, and I hoped this Italian restaurant wouldn’t disappoint.

It didn’t.

We headed there around 7:30 p.m. on a rainy Tuesday night, and we joked that we would probably be the only customers in the restaurant. Ottawa can be very quiet during the week, and people here typically eat much earlier. Oh, we were wrong!

We showed up and immediately noticed the restaurant was busier than we had though. The first contact with the hostess was brutal. No “hello”, just “got a reservation?” I admitted we didn’t and she shrugged. “It’s gonna be like… I don’t know, fifteen minutes?” “Fifteen minutes, roughly?” I repeated for the benefit of my friend who was standing behind, and for my own. “Well, I don’t know. I can’t guess. Wait or not, it’s up to you,” she replied, walking away.

I was really put off by her attitude and actually stepped out of the restaurant, but the menu looked good and we figured we would give it a chance.

Twenty minutes later, we were lead to one of the dining rooms upstairs and greeted by a much friendlier waiter, who apologized for the wait and immediately brought us some fresh bread (delicious!).

We ordered an appetizer—the spinach and artichoke dip—because the place was packed, and we figured it would be a while before we’d get the main, two pizzas.

The appetizer turned out to be one of the best I had in a restaurant. Usually, when you order a “dip”, you get the same kind of dips you buy at the supermarket, along with some bread. This one was a work of art. It was fresh out of the oven and creamy, and was served with enough pita bread and toasts for two. We actually didn’t even finish for fear of not being able to eat the pizzas!

I had the salmon, leeks and tomatoes pizza, and my friend got the special of the night, pancetta and tomatoes. The dough was perfect: thin enough, with plenty of ingredients on top. They weren’t cheap on the salmon! I couldn’t finish and brought the last slice home.

Finally, we shared the apple crumble with cinnamon ice cream. I usually skip dessert in restaurants unless they are homemade (what’s the point of paying $7 for some frozen pie or cake?) but this one turned out to be pretty good, although a tad too sweet for my taste.

Except for the grumpy hostess downstairs, the service was excellent and fairly fast considering how busy it was. We said from the beginning we weren’t in a rush (we stayed over two hours!) and the waiters mostly left us eat at our own pace, but our glasses of water were always refilled promptly.

The bill came to $30 each (splitting the appetizer and the dessert)—pretty good for a three-course meal in the Byward Market.

Highly recommended!

The Good

Great pizza
Good bread (although I would have loved some butter rather than oil)
Friendly service

The Bad

Grumpy hostess welcoming customers
Long wait on busy nights
The dining rooms can be very noisy

At a glance

35 William Street
Ottawa ON K1N 6Z9
(613) 789‑8959
info.market@vittoriatrattoria.com
http://www.vittoriatrattoria.com

Sunday 10:00 AM — 2:00 PM, 2:00 PM — 10:00 PM
Mon — Fri 11:00 AM — 3:00 PM, 3:00 PM — 10:00 PM
Saturday 10:00 AM — 2:00 PM, 2:00 PM — 10:00 PM

Spinach and Artichoke Dip With Bread

Salmon and Leeks Pizza

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Picture of the Week: Little Italy

Zhu — Fri, 11 May 2012 12:00:25 +0000

Electrical Locker in Little Italy, Ottawa, May 2012

In Ottawa, the heart of Little Italy lies along Preston Street, in the area known as “Corso Italia”. Like in Chinatown, the entrance on Carling is marked by a metal arch in the colours of the Italian flag. Even the electrical lockers are painted in the colours of the flag!

There are tons of Italian restaurants for all budgets on Preston, as well as a few coffee shops, a bodega and a soccer club. Every year, the neighborhood hosts the Settimana Italiana di Ottawa and other events such as a Farmer Market.

Yet, as pleasant as strolling down Preston is, I can’t help thinking the area isn’t as lively as it should be, and most restaurants are rather cliché. Perhaps it is because there hasn’t been a wave of immigrant from Italy in a long time (the first one was around 1900, and the second after WWII), and because most people of Italian descent don’t celebrate their roots as much.

Even though I have one of these hard-to-spell Italian last name, I’d rather party in Chinatown, a few blocks away. Sign of times?

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A Quick Trip To Toronto

Zhu — Wed, 09 May 2012 12:00:35 +0000

Toronto is one of my favourite cities in Canada, and we’ve gotten to know it pretty well through multiple visits. It’s an easy getaway destination, a mere five-hour drive from Ottawa, and there are a lot of cheap hotels if you don’t mind staying in the suburbs, like most of Toronto residents.

This time, we were there for the Bryan Adams concert and only stayed for a day, but we still enjoyed a nice walk in the city and a stop at two of our favourite restaurants: The Old Spaghetti Factory on the Esplanade, and a small Chinese dumpling place in Chinatown.

The drive into Toronto never ceases to amaze me, as the highway plunges between the condos, always taller and always closer. I never truly understood real estate and why people think investing in a $300,000 condo by the freeway is a good idea. I can understand the lucky—and rich—few who live in condos right in the downtown core, but why bother living in the suburbs in a condo? I guess it’s like real estate in Paris: you buy whatever you can and hope for the market to keep booming.

We often end up in Chinatown during our trips to Toronto. I like the atmosphere, and the fact that it’s always crowded. The number of small businesses is amazing, and there aren’t too many franchises in the neighborhood, which makes for an interesting walk.

This time, after eating our dumplings, we ended up in a small side street of Kensington Market we had never explored before. It was full of “alternative” clothing stores, and the smell of incense was overwhelming. Kensington Market boasts an amazing number of murals, most very well done and they liven up the area.

On the way back to Chinatown, we bumped into Olivia Chow, the wife of late NDP leader Jack Layton, giving interviews in Cantonese—no idea what she talked about!

You can see more pictures of Toronto in the Flickr set.

Always More Condos To Build…

: The Hockey Hall of Fame

: Chinatown

Bikes For Rent

On Bay Street

Incense Burning

Shoes For Sale

Alley

Self Portrait

Murals

May Day Celebrations

Toronto Skyline From Dundas Street

Olivia Chow Giving Interview in Chinatown

Late Night in TO

Foggy Highway

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Bryan Adams Concert in Toronto

Zhu — Mon, 07 May 2012 12:00:51 +0000

Yes, I like Bryan Adams. I don’t care how corny some of his songs can be, he is classic.

When I was in China in 2000, I picked up the 98 album “On a Day Like Today” and my friends and I loved it—probably because the lyrics were so easy to understand for us, non-English speakers. Plus, we were in a “Bridget Jones” phase where all the guys were asshole anyway, so most of the songs on the album confirmed what we highly suspected about the opposite sex.

I saw him play in Nantes once—must have been in 1998 or 1999—and I had good memories of the concert. He is one of these artists worth seeing live, I think.

That said, the decision to make the trip to the concert in Toronto was a last minute one. We both weren’t too busy at work, and the weather was suddenly warmer. Plus, we wanted to check out the Air Canada Centre.

The drive was quicker than expected (less traffic in the middle of the week I guess) and we made it downtown Toronto just in time to grab dinner before the show.

Security at the Air Canada Centre was a bit more lax than at Scotiabank Place, and I was able to take my DSLR with me (or at least, no one stopped me). We had good seats too, on the floor, so I’m glad I took the chance.

The show was awesome. There was no opening band but Bryan Adams sang non-stop from 8 p.m. to close to 11 p.m., and he played all his classics, plus many other good tunes. I wasn’t disappointed—he is a great live musician.

The crowd was great too. Lots of women, and some were really young—I wonder how they discovered Bryan Adams, who is an artist from 1990s!

You can see the complete set of pictures taken during the concert here, on Flickr.

The Air Canada Centre

Bryan Adams in Toronto

Picture of the Week: Let's Kidnap a Girl!

Zhu — Fri, 04 May 2012 12:00:22 +0000

Weird Sign At The Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa, April 2012

I’m a huge fan of signs and I always keep an eye out for the funniest or strangest ones, at home or abroad.

I found this gem when exploring the Central Experimental Farm a few days ago. It was put up in the very quiet parking lot. Feng and I looked at each other and burst out laughing. “The hell…?” we wondered.

“Looks like it’s a warning against old perverts kidnapping innocent girls,” I ventured.

I know it must mean “use the crosswalk and hold children’s hands” but really, couldn’t they come up with a less confusing sign design? Or maybe it’s just us…!

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Racism in Canada

Zhu — Wed, 02 May 2012 12:00:48 +0000

I Love Canada, Ottawa, April 2012

The results of the first round of the French presidential elections came as no surprise: the two favourite candidates, Nicolas Sarkozy and François Holland, will face each other in round two on May 6, 2012. The only “surprise” was that the Front National, the anti-immigrant party, ended up at the third place with a record 17.9 per cent of the vote.

The Front National went from being a marginal party in the 70s to being the third largest political force today. Considering the party’s history and its platform, that’s rather scary. For instance, some party officials have occasionally promoted historical revisionism, specifically related to the Second World War, and the party’s opposition to immigration and immigrants has never been stronger.

Frankly, if such a party existed in Canada, I’d be really annoyed. Fortunately, here, the influence of such fringe parties is very limited, so limited that I never hear anything about the Heritage Front or the Nationalist Party of Canada.

Canada is a very multicultural country: in fact, multiculturalism was adopted as the official policy of the Canadian government and the 2006 Census reported more than 200 different ethnic origins in the country. Few politicians even question the need for immigration, and the debate is usually around immigration quotas.

Oh, we do have a bunch of nuts here too. There are mostly linked to their U.S. counterparts, from religious fanatics who want to reopen the abortion debate in Canada to those who would love to see creationism taught at school.

But I don’t see Canadians are racist—that should be pretty good news for most immigrants.

Admittedly, I may not be the right person to judge whether Canadians dislike immigrants. After all, French is my first language and I’m not a visible minority. I blend in easily and I’m much less likely to be discriminated against than other immigrants from Africa or Asia.

That said, Canadians can be conservative. I lean to the left, sometime the far-left, and conservatism drives me crazy. For instance, I stay away from the Sun, a conservative rag that typically rant against Liberals, high taxes, socialism, lazy unemployed people, unruly children and “punks” and promote the “not in my backyard” mentality. I wouldn’t even use this “newspaper” to clean my windows. But I must admit I rarely read or hear blatantly racist comments.

Can Canadians even afford to be racist? Canada needs immigrants—to meet demographic challenges and to fill the gaps in the labour market—and the country is well aware of that. Canadians don’t really question multiculturalism. At times, the religion or cultural practices of some groups are under the spotlight but such “diversity dilemmas” are to be expected and they remain relatively low-key compared to other countries (try to talk about Islam with French people…!).

I believe that what some immigrants brand as “racism” is simply the rite of passage most newcomers have to go through, no matter where they are from. The frustration of not finding a job because of having foreign credentials or the feeling of not being appreciated enough by locals can be overwhelming for some immigrants, but it’s rarely racism per se… more like an adaptation period. A Canadian who just moved from Manitoba can face problems finding a job in Ontario or in Quebec simply because he doesn’t have the network and references he used to have in his home province, not to mention that each province has its own vibes.

Immigrants to Canada will sometime hear stupid comments about the immigration system, but most can be chalked up to ignorance. For instance, I remember chatting with a woman in the bus who assured me Canada was being invaded by sick immigrants who just wanted to take advantage of the country’s great health system. Once I explained her that immigrants who had health problems were usually not allowed to immigrate in the first place, and that there was a waiting period to be eligible to get healthcare in Canada, she looked away. Much easier that way. But hey, maybe she learned something that day?

Have you ever been discriminated against in Canada? Elsewhere in the world? Would do be worried if Canada has a major national far-right party, like in France

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10 Things I Wish I Had Known About Blogging

Zhu — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:00:50 +0000

Self-Portrait, Ottawa, April 2012

Last Friday, I published my 900^th article. I only realized it afterwards: I don’t pay attention to numbers and I was really annoyed with our famous Canadian weather that day!

When I typed my first post on Blogger in November 2006, I had now idea I would still be writing today. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision, mostly motivated by boredom and culture shock. And six years later, I’m still there, still enjoying blogging. Funny, isn’t it?

So in honour of this 900^th article, here are 10 things I wish I had known about blogging.

Blogging is time-consuming — I’m lucky to rarely experience writer’s block. Yet, blogging takes much more time than I would have thought at first. Finding ideas for articles, taking pictures, doing some research , editing and proofreading articles, uploading pictures, replying to comments etc. is a lot of work. Most writers develop some kind of routine (such as scheduling articles) but while it helps, blogging remains a time-consuming activity if you want to be serious and consistent.

Bloggers will develop good marketing skills — Most people don’t blog for themselves—they want to be read. And considering the number of blogs around, finding an audience and building a community is almost a full-time job. There are different ways to drive traffic to your blog but all include some kind of marketing skills. You could promote your blog on social media, participate in blog carnivals or simply leave meaningful comments on other blogs you enjoy reading but whatever you do, you have to be your own advertiser!

… and good technical skills — Those who are on Blogger or WordPress.com don’t have to worry much about the technical side of their blogs. But those who, like me, have a self-hosted WordPress blog fear each major version update. Updating the core of your blog can be tricky, and that you could be stuck trying to decipher cryptic error messages to put your blog back online. Besides, these days, a lot of bloggers want to stick out and express their creativity. Even if you use a theme or a template, there are parts of your blog you may want to tweak. And for that, you will have to edit the CSS or know some basic HTML!

Blogging isn’t always free — In 2007, I chose to leave Blogger, a free service, to use WordPress, a self-hosted blogging tool. It was a personal choice I don’t regret, as WordPress offers a lot of flexibility. But this choice had a price: I had to buy a domain name and pay for web hosting. The total cost is reasonable (about $100 per year) but it was still an investment at the time.

… but these blogging-related fees can be paid easily — Fortunately, I quickly realized these blogging fees could be paid fairly easily if I was willing to compromise on my “no advertising” policy. When I started blogging, I didn’t want to display any kind of ads. I changed my mind when blogging became time-consuming, when I started answering a lot of questions about Canada and when I had to pay for my hosting fees. Today, I make a little bit of money every month with Google Adsense, Text Link Ads and the pictures I sell in the Shop.

Communication is the key — I’m a firm believer that blogging is all about communicating, and that bloggers should have some contact info available and/or a comment section. I personally stay away from blogs that make commenting difficult (i.e. asking people to register to comment). Not all comments are deep and meaningful (including mine!) but keeping the communication open does wonders for the community, and you can learn a lot from those who take the time to leave a comment.

Bloggers do receive weird requests — The downside of inviting people to contact you or to leave a comment is that you will get strange requests. Just today, I had three of those by email. The first person wanted me to help him promote his volleyball tournament (why me? Why? I never ever mentioned volleyball on that blog!). The second one asked me to promote a new website about Greece (lovely country, nothing to do with Canada though!). The third request was three lines in Spanish from a reader in Colombia who wanted me to sponsor her entire family (no “hello”, no “please” and no “thank you”). I put up a FAQ page with some guidelines regarding questions but it doesn’t seem to deter weird people. Oh well.

Fighting spammers and scammers is annoying — Another blogging annoyance is those bloody spammers. You don’t realize how much of a pain they are until you reach 139,345 spam comments for 14,583 real comments (the latest stats available on this blog). Fortunately, Akismet blocks most if not all of them. As for scammers, you will get people stealing your pictures, your blog articles, your entire blog… just be prepare to deal with that.

There is such a thing as blogging etiquette — The first steps of a new blogger online can be daunting but most people are more than willing to help if you are willing to respect the etiquette!

Don’t blog because “you have to” — Blogging is something you should do because you enjoy it. If you don’t anymore, then there is no point in forcing yourself. Readers will feel your lack of interest. Sometimes, it’s better to take a break or post less often than to fill the gaps with poorly-written articles.

Any tip you’d like to add?

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Picture of the Week: Snow in April

Zhu — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:05:37 +0000

Three Frozen Tulips, Ottawa, April 2012

On Monday, I was publishing a photo article on “Early Spring in the Farm”, and I was joking about jinxing the nice weather.

Well, looks like I did (sorry Ottawa!).

On Monday morning, we woke up to freezing temperatures and light snow. The snow actually melted during the day and it turned into rain pretty quickly, but the “oh crap” feeling lingered through the day.

I just don’t know what to wear these days. Thrown with abandon on the chair in the bedroom, there is a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, two pairs of jeans, one sweater and my scarf. Come on weather, a bit of consistency would be nice!

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