All around the Vancouver Boat Harbor,  are several flower beds with all sorts of colorful varieties. I was there jsut as fall was hitting and many, like these sunflowers, were on their last leg. Even though they were slowly wilting away, I couldn’t help but see a bit of beauty hanging on. And, now that winter has its firm grip on the northern hemisphere, I thought we could all use a touch of natural color. Enjoy these week’s Suh-Weet shot from Canada, and remember, it’s only a few more months until a fresh crop of sunflowers will come into bloom.

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Sunflowers in Vancouver is a post from: Career Break Secrets: Travel show, independent travel blog and advice for career breaks and around the world travel adventures

Fancy a stroll along the harbor in Vancouver, Canada? Yeah, it really is this nice. No story today. It’s all about the view in this Suh-Weet Shot.

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Vancouver Boat Harbor is a post from: Career Break Secrets: Travel show, independent travel blog and advice for career breaks and around the world travel adventures

Harbour in Vancouver

Back in September, I had the chance to travel around Canada with G Adventures on a media tour to talk about career breaks. One of the highlights for me was having the chance to visit Vancouver for the first time. I have yet to meet anyone who had a bad thing to say about it. Well, the weather, maybe.

We arrived from Calgary in the late afternoon. The approach to the airport was one of the most beautiful I had ever seen. The forested-covered coastline dotted with green, lush islands just off the coast kept me engaged and only made me more anxious to land.

These yummy calamaris went well with the yam fries. Just sayin!

We were treated to a cool, clear night, perfect for getting lost. After wandering around the Nelson park neighborhood, we started craving a little sustenance. We wound up at the upscale, Joey Restaurant. A bottle of wine and a couple of crispy appetizers including calamari were all we needed. My lasting memory is that all the waitresses wore high heels. I didn’t know if I should be impressed or sympathetic.

Friday morning was full of radio and written interviews leaving us with the afternoon to explore. I had reached out to the Vancouver Tourism for some suggestions. They sent over a nice packet of information. And, after a careful review of the 100s of things to do, we wound up on foot again exploring. The sun was shining. What else were we supposed to do?

Walking Around Vancouver…the Whole City

Felt lucky to have seen this much color in Stanley Park in September

Fall hadn’t quite arrived, so the flowers in Stanley Park were holding their own. But, I’m sure that the first short cold blast took out the colorful petals all around. As we walked along the path that hugged the Lost Lagoon, we were kept company by the occasional jogger, a family of raccoons that were way too tame for my taste, and the families pushing their all-terrain baby strollers.

I think I could have spent all day here. But, there was more of Vancouver to see. I had the idea to take a carriage ride through the park to cover more ground. But, I couldn’t find it and like I said, there was more of the city to see. We spilled onto the marina and started heading toward the convention center. As I looked across the water, I thought we were seeing Vancouver Island. Later I realized it was merely North Vancouver.

After passing by the convention center, we entered the historic Gastown district. Trolleys, coffee and shops lined the streets. We slowly walked down Powell, sitting for a bit for a coffee and water. We looked at the map and saw that our final stop was actually across town, Granville Island. After a quick look at the map, I thought, hey, it’s really not that far.

One of the old lamps in Gastown

Over an hour later…and crossing the Granville Bridge by foot…

…we arrived.

Granville Island was filled with shops, high-end, waterfront restaurants and the stacked-stone sculptures of Jozsef Toth. Tim and I must have watched him for at least half an hour. I don’t know how he gets them stack up, but the garden of statues he built along the waterfront made the feat all the more impressive.

Real entertainment on Granville Island

I broke one of my travel rules when we headed for something to eat, don’t stop at the first restaurant you find. Whet is on the left-hand side of the road, just as you come onto the island. With an impressive view of the harbor and the sunset from its outdoor seating area, we couldn’t resist. A glass of white wine, a bowl of chowder and a seared tuna salad seemed like the perfect dinner after a long day of exploring. As good as the salad looked, it was a bit of a disappointment. I didn’t care too much as it was the end of  a long week and I was enjoying just being in Vancouver.

Seared tuna salad

After a short water taxi ride back across the bay, we made our way back to the hotel jumped in a cab and headed to the airport to catch our ride back to Toronto.

What to Do in Vancouver…Next Time

After getting a quick taste of the city, I got a sense of the city, but left so much unexplored. Here’s a quick list of what I would return to do.

1. Enjoy the city’s natural beauties. More time in Stanley Park is a given. But, I would also check out the UBC Botanical Gardens.
2. Eat the street food. I didn’t mean to avoid the street food. It just worked out that way. There are so many carts selling lots of yummy looking fare, I now know that lunch will be served outside!
3. Pop over to Victoria Island for day, maybe even for a night. With ferry service connecting the two cities, the ride over is likely to worth the trip alone.
4. Get active. Hiking, biking, kayaking. Between the mountains and water, I won’t be trapped in the city long. I’ll have to get out and explore.
5. Explore the nightlife. Vancouver is rumored to have great nightlife. While you can probably find me out in the Davie Village after dinner, Vancouver offers something for everyone.This is not a city to spend the night in you room.

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Getting a Taste of Vancouver is a post from: Career Break Secrets: Travel show, independent travel blog and advice for career breaks and around the world travel adventures

I learned pretty quickly that wine and Canada DO go together while traveling in Canada. And after a great Saturday morning touring wineries with my friend Janice, we sat down at Treadwell’s Vineyard Bistro located at the Southbrook winery. Just as all the wine was organic, so too were all the ingredients on this delicious creation. If the photo isn’t enough to make you drool, know that it was topped with red onion, mushrooms, Monteforte feta, and DOUBLE-SMOKED bacon. Based on a recommendation from our waiter, I paired it with the Southbrook 2010 Connect Rosé. It was a suh-weet lunch and I played around with my food until I got this week’s Suh-Weet Shot!

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Disclosure: My tour was organized and lunch paid for by the Niagara Tourism. All opinions, tips and advice are mine.

Organic Lunch at the Southbrook Vineyard is a post from: Career Break Secrets: Travel show, independent travel blog and advice for career breaks and around the world travel adventures

Downtown Niagara On the Lake. Copyright CareerBreakSecrets.com

So, you don’t have to be on a career break to go wine tasting, but all that world travel does give you a good excuse to explore and discover new and unexpected wine regions. It’s a personal favorite activity of mine. I went biking while wine tasting in Mendoza, Argentina. In Spain, while filming our series, I went down to the Alicante wine region to sample some lesser-known wines. And, of course, there’s always time to pop open the cava!

Beyond the better known wine-producing countries, sometimes the lesser-known wine producers will surprise…like Ontario, Canada.

Two hours by car outside of Toronto, I headed out with my friend Janice from SoloTravelerBlog to Niagara-On-the-Lake, the center of wine production in Canada. We spent the late morning and early afternoon at Greenlane and Southbrook wineries. Much of the time I kept trying to get my mind around the idea that there could be good Canadian wine. And, what we found in the morning was really good. Janice has a great write-up about our education in the vineyard  on her blog.

Barrels from Southbrook Winery. Copyright CareerBreakSecrets.com

Afternoon Matinee, Then Dinner in Niagara on the Lake

Niagara on the Lake was celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Shaw Festival. And Janice and I had tickets to see My Fair Lady, based on Shaw’s Pygmalion, thanks to the Niagara Tourism Board. In high school show choir we did a medley (definitely not a Glee-style mashup) of songs from My Fair Lady. As I watched the show, I couldn’t help but sing along to myself in sotto voce.

Mmmm. It tasted even better! Copyright CareerBreakSecrets.com

Despite having a huge pizza from the Southbrook winery for lunch, I was hungry after the show. We headed out to The Old Winery restaurant, a couple of miles off the center of town. The restaurant’s decor was dominated by dark woods and leather chairs accented by modern finishes making it elegant, yet warm and friendly. One look at the menu and I knew what I had to have, the braised pork chop. Janice’s pistachio-crusted scallops served on a bed of lettuce looked pretty scrumptious too. I probably should have ordered the lighter dish, but after one bite of that lovely chop and mango salsa, I wasn’t too concerned with the quantity of food I had eaten all day.

A lighter alternative. Copyright CareerBreakSecrets.com

Ice Wine For Dessert

Our final stop was to the largest estate ice wine producer in the world, Pillitteri Estates Winery. I had no idea what ice wine was or how it was made. I mean, I was just learning that you could cultivate wine-quality grapes in Canada. And then there’s the little detail that I am not a sweet wine drinker. I like my wine dry and bold.

First made in Germany around 2000 years ago, ice wine came to Canada in the 1980s. And, the country now accounts for 75% of the world’s production. And, most of that comes from Ontario. Other than Canada, China is a huge consumer market for the sweet dessert wines. And, South Korea and Japan are big markets for Pillitteri too.

This cart is an icon of not just the winery, but of the family. Copyright CareerBreakSecrets.com

Pillitteri is now the world’s largest estate producer of ice wine. That’s quite and achievement for a winery that was founded in 1993. While touring around, I got to meet the founder, Sicily-born, Gary Pillitteri. It was brief but we talked about the carretto, or cart, that he brought over with him in 1948 and is the central feature in the company’s logo.

Ice Wine's a Pouring! Copyright CareerBreakSecrets.com

After touring the vineyard, we made our way to the tasting room. Harvested in the dead of winter when the temperatures reach a crisp -8 Celsius, these wines come alive unexpectedly. The grapes are pressed while still frozen and the juice is put into fermentation while it is still partially frozen. Fermentation takes quite a while, about four months. Having to keep the wine at 12 degrees Celsius slows it all down.

Prefer white or red? Copyright CareerBreakSecrets.com

So, what does they taste like? They reminded me of port wines. Sweet, but without the kick at the end. The finish is much smoother than the Port wine that I’ve had before. I have to say, I could see myself finishing a nice night with a glass of this! While I couldn’t take a bottle home with me, when I come across ice wine again, I will definitely leave room for this little nightcap.

A Day of Food, Culture and Ice Wine in Canada’s Wine Country is a post from: Career Break Secrets: Travel show, independent travel blog and advice for career breaks and around the world travel adventures

The performers come to you! Copyright CareerBreakSecrets.com

I love a good street festival. And, I usually come across them by chance, not by design or good planning. In 2008, I went to the Festa Major de Gracia in Barcelona and last year, I got lucky that the Caminata de la Solidaridad parade in Bogota passed by my apartment.

In Toronto in August, I caught the last weekend of Buskerfest in Toronto. Lots of street performers and street feed lined the Front Street between Yonge and Jarvis. The troupes of performers included these fit performers from Australia, Flame Oz. I swear they introduced themselves as The Flamers. But, maybe the Aussie accent played tricks on my ears. Flamers – Flame-aaahhhzzzz???

The proceeds from the event went to Epilepsy Toronto. Here are a few photos from the event and performance. If you’re in Toronto next August, be sure to check it out!

Buskerfest supporting Epilepsy Toronto. Copyright CareerBreakSecrets.com

Flame Oz tearing it up! Copyright CareerBreakSecrets.com

Lots of street food. Copyright CareerBreakSecrets.com

Funnel cakes with strawberries. Your health food option. Copyright CareerBreakSecrets.com

Toronto skyline that night with CN Tower lit up in NDP Orange. Copyright CareerBreakSecrets.com

Flame on at Buskerfest in Toronto is a post from: Career Break Secrets: Travel show, independent travel blog and advice for career breaks and around the world travel adventures

Coffee and Donuts. Mmmmmmm. Copyright CareerBreakSecrets.com

On my recent trip to Canada, I couldn’t help but stop off (um, a few times) at Tim Horton’s, THE Canadian doughnut joint. The have the location-pervasiveness of Starbucks in the US with the nutritional goodness of your neighborhood doughnut shop. To make sure I got the story, I was forced to try several types of doughnuts and other things on the menu. Keep in mind, people, I was in Canada for 2 weeks:

• Coffee
• Hot breakfast sandwich with sausage
• Apple fritter
• Honey dipped donuts
• Old fashioned glazed
• Sour cream glazed
• Blueberry
• Honey cruller

Did I mention this was over a 2 week period???

And, the Best Tim Horton’s Donut Is…

Honey crullers were dripping with glaze and still warm. Copyright CareerBreakSecrets.com

By far, the honey cruller was my favorite. Honestly, I wasn’t a big fan of many of the donuts. I thought they were OK. The breakfast sandwich was pretty good. But, I won’t go against Canadian tastes. These stores are packed! It’s been a while since I’ve seen that many people wait for donuts. But, back to the crullers.

On my way out of Canada at the Toronto airport, I stopped by the Tim Horton’s for one last sample. I had had the crullers once before and really liked them. So, I thought I would give them one more go (I had to make sure the quality was consistent across stores).  I got crullers that were still warm, the glaze was running off of them. And, that’s where these pictures were taken. Crispy on the outside and they literally melted in my mouth. I had to go to the bathroom to wipe the glaze that dribbled on my face.

So, on your next trip to Canada, if you can’t resist a trip to Tim Horton’s, go straight for the Honey Crullers. Yum!

The Best Donut at Tim Horton’s is a post from: Career Break Secrets: Travel show, independent travel blog and advice for career breaks and around the world travel adventures

Yummy Poutine! Copyright CareerBreakSecrets.com

Before I headed up to Canada a few weeks ago, I did a quick search to find out what typified Canadian cuisine. Almost immediately, I found lots of references to ¨Poutine.¨ I wasn’t even sure how to pronounce it. Was it poh-tyn, poo-tyn, poh-tyn-ee??? Turns out, I was completely wrong. It’s pronounced, poo-teen.

Hmmm. Didn’t sound very appetizing. 

But, I figured, it’s potatoes and gravy. Has to be good right? The wild card would be the cheese curds. Wasn’t sure I was going to like that little combo.

After a week traveling in Canada, I landed in Edmonton. After my early morning interview with Global TV, I asked the anchors and production staff, what should we do this afternoon? I had previously been told that the mall was not too be missed. Biggest in North America! 5^th largest in the world! *Sigh*

Surely, the TV crew would give us a good, hidden suggestion. They told us to go walk along the River Valley Path. That sounded good. And, we had driven past it earlier and it did look beautiful.

But, the weather wasn’t going to let it. It got cold, windy was threatening to rain. So, West Edmonton Mall here we come!

Enter Poutine

New York Fries. How Canadian can this really be? Copyright CareerBreakSecrets.com

After a lunchtime interview with CTV, we headed to the mall and wound up eventually at the food court. The poutinerie (yes, that’s what it was called), caught my eye. I figured, now was the time to give it whirl.

Tim, my colleague and friend from Gap Adventures, ordered the ¨Classic Poutine¨: fries, cheese curd and brown gravy.

Close up of the classic poutine. Copyright CareerBreakSecrets.com

I went with ¨The Works¨: fries, sour cream, cheese sauce, green onions and bacon.

The Works! This really looked like nachos. Copyright CareerBreakSecrets.com

Don’t worry kids, the menu at New York Fries is trans-fat free! It’s practically health food.

I LOVED IT! 

(Honestly, was there ever any doubt?)

Why Poutine Is Canadian Nachos

Going. Going. Copyright CareerBreakSecrets.com

While eating my poutine, and having a taste of Tim’s, it struck me that poutine is nothing more than Canadian nachos. It just has a name that sounds (to the foreigner at least) more high-brow.

1. Both have a fried carb base: corn chips or potatoes
2. Both are topped with whatever toppings you want
3. Both are finished off with a sauce of some type
4. Both are finger foods.
5. Both are comfort foods.

GONE! Copyright CareerBreakSecrets.com

Once I made the connection between poutine and nachos, my next question was: Why has this not taken off in the US…especially when the fast food place where we ate is called New York Fries???

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Poutine, Just a Fancy Way to Say ¨Canadian Nachos¨ is a post from: Career Break Secrets: Travel show, independent travel blog and advice for career breaks and around the world travel adventures