Sparkle Summer Sandals

These crystal studded sandals from J Crew are so gorgeous and perfect to wear this summer. They are easy to slip on sandals made with clear plastic and crystals that will not be so painful on our feet. These sandals will be gorgeous to wear on the beach and to any summer party in town. They are so elegant and classy to wear with anything from shorts, skirts and summer dress. J Crew described these sandals as basically jewelry for your feet. It's a touch of style and elegance for this summer season. 

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Summer @ The ROM

 Besides shopping at Bloor-Yorkville, one of the best things to do during the summer is to see the latest exhibitions at the Royal Ontario Museum. Every season, the museum present interesting and educational exhibitions from other countries. For this summer, the ROM presents Pompeii: In The Shadow Of The Volcano which showcase the story of the eruption of Mt Vesuvius over 1,900 years ago and its victims. In the spirit of the Pan Am Games here in Toronto and for PANAMANIA, which is a celebration of the diverse arts and cultures of all of the countries participating, there is VIVA Mexico!  This exhibit shows the clothing and culture of Mexico. It's a fun time visiting the museum during this time. Then afterwards, we all had a dim sum lunch at Dynasty Chinese Yorkville to fill our empty stomachs. We definitely had a whirlwind tour of the world here from Pompeii to Mexican fashion to Chinese dim sum. This is a part of Toronto that is cultural, fashionable and so diverse. 

 

 

 Map of Italy that shows the major volcanoes around the country. 

 The victims were discovered around the 1950s. The famous dog here with his bronze collar trying to avoid the heat but no one escaped this tragedy. From animals to human, fell victim to the power and might of the volcano eruption. 

Paintings of the wealthy residents of Pompeii. The bread and olives here were found in a house was covered in ash and turned black. Now these are hard as stone. 

 

 ROM also participated to celebrate PANAMANIA.

 

Cantonese chow mein fried noodles with seafood and vegetables and some Dim sum at Dynasty Chinese Yorkville.

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Summer Ice Cream Truck

One of my favourites during summer is to have an ice cream. Luckily, here in Toronto, we have this ice cream truck driving around neighbourhoods, playing their tunes to let the residents know that they have arrived. When we hear their tunes, both children and adults run out our houses to make sure that we catch the truck so that we can buy our ice cream. Besides ice cream, the Donkey Kone offers shakes, slush, parfait, sundaes, Popsicles among other ice cold offerings. My favourite is the soft ice cream in both vanilla and chocolate, all twirled into one cone. What will be your favourite here?

 

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Dream Heels At Tanya Heath

 During a summer's stroll along Yorkville, here in Toronto, my friend and I became curious on this boutique with floral display windows. As we ventured in, we discovered that this is the new shoe store of Tanya Heath, a Canadian luxury shoe designer now residing in Paris, France. To our great discovery and delight, it turned out that this is not any ordinary shoe store. This is an extraordinary and unique luxury shoe store with stores in Paris and London. Tanya created the first shoes with changing heels. You purchase the shoe plus several heels according to your own liking. As you can see here, the heels on offer are from stiletto, high block heels and low block heels which comes in different colours and designs.  You can wear one shoes from day to night then change to different heels to update your look. My friend and I were delighted to discover these shoes and will definitely come back in our next shopping expedition in Yorkville. Best of all, these shoes are Made in France. Isn't that amazing?

 How to change the heels? Click the internal button in the shoes for easy changing of the heels.

 The Sales Associate modeled for us. Same sandals with different heels - one is the high block heel and the other is the stiletto heel. This is genius!

The good news is that Tanya's shoes are available on-line.  Tanya's shoes are one of a kind! 

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Toronto Pan-Am Games

 The Pan Am Games 2015 begins right here in Toronto from 10 to 26 July. The Pan Am Games is the international sports competition for the North, Central and South American countries with over 200 athletes competing for summer sports.  The City is abuzz with lots of excitement, entertainment and sports competition all around. There is also PANAMANIA which celebrates the arts and cultures of all of the countries participating in the games. Every day there is a free musical concert at Nathan Phillips Square which currently displays the huge TORONTO sign right in front of City Hall (photo above). The TORONTO sign is now the most photographed sign in the city. It's a good thing that the City decided to keep the sign and move it around after the games in different locations around the City. This summer is definitely a time for celebration in everything from sports, arts, cultures and food of all the countries participating in the Games. We welcome all the athletes and visitors to our beautiful and diverse City! 

 Meet Pachi, the Toronto Pan-Am Games mascot. 

The countdown at Nathan Phillips Square with the view of the iconic City Hall. 

Watch the amazing fireworks from the CN Tower during Pan-Am Games opening night.

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Toronto Summerlicious

 It's that time of the year again for the Toronto Summerlicious which will run the whole month from 3 to 26 July. This event celebrates the diverse food and the culinary experience around Toronto. There are more than 210 of the top restaurants around Toronto participating offering their 3 or 4 course prix fix menus for lunch and dinner. This is the best time to try out all of the restaurants in your wish list for a reasonable price.  The Summerlicious will also coincide with the largest, busiest and sporty event to be held here in Toronto, the 2015 Pan-Am Games which will have all the athletes from North and South American countries competing for their glory. It will definitely be a delicious and busy summer so far. 

 

 My friends and I chose to have dinner at Origin North. It was a 3 course dinner where I chose to have the Saffron Arancini with sweet pea and zucchini crudo, Moroccan chicken with spices and couscous and for dessert I had the Salted Caramel Cone soft ice cream. Overall, the food was delicious and very filling.  The setting was very elegant and trendy. Service was very good and friendly.

 My other friends chose the Flank steak which they were not so happy with because the portion was small. The chef even refused to do a medium steak for one of my friends. The chef told us that he will only prepare either rare or well done.  My friend had no choice but to eat a well done steak. This was really strange and not very good customer service. (Photo credit: my friend Amy)

They had the lemon curd with citrus meringue and coconut snow. (Photo credit: my friend Amy)

 

My dessert of salted caramel cone with soft vanilla ice cream and sprinkled with peanut brittle served in a bowl.  I just love ice cream during summer.

Enjoy the summer!

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Summer Blue and White

 My favourite colour is blue and white especially during the summer. Luckily, most of the fashion designers featured this wonderful colour combination into their collection this summer season. Here are some window displays of blue and white here in Toronto and London from Dolce & Gabbana,  Mulberry and Oscar De Rental gowns at Holt Renfew. I just love all of these blue and white bags, shoes and dresses which are just perfect to wear this summer season. 

 

Dolce & Gabbana Blue White collection. 

Blue and White from Mulberry in London. 

 

Romantic Oscar De la Renta gowns at Holt Renfrew, Bloor St, Toronto. 

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Healthy Choices From St Jacobs Farmers Market

 A Saturday morning visit to the St Jacobs Farmers Market located at St Jacobs County in Waterloo, Ontario never disappoints as there is always a huge variety of healthy choices. There are a variety of fruits, vegetables and even meats and poultry products all grown organically from the Mennonite Farms in the surrounding area of the market. There are also free tasting from each merchants offering their products to try before you purchase them. Every Saturday morning, the market is full of visitors including their dogs. Visitors can eat their breakfast and lunch here as there are a variety of places offering their own specialities from Canadian Pizza, wraps, sausage on a bun even fried fish on a bun, and the famous apple fritters which always have a long line up. It's a good thing that the Mennonite farming community here were able to rebuilt after a devastating fire last year which destroyed this market place. Now they have rebuilt and expanded with new buildings to showcase and sell their amazing and delicious produce in their farmers market. 

 

 These grapes are amazing as they are seedless and so sweet.

 

 I always buy these freshly home made pasta. They are made from natural ingredients like eggs, wheat, kale, green peas, tomato, carrots, beet, parsley among others.  

 There is free tasting everywhere including these sausages, salamis and hams all organically grown in these Mennonites Farms around the area. 

 This is the Canadian Pizza made with pepperoni, mushrooms, sausage and ham freshly baked right at the market. 

 The pies here at Stone Crock Restaurant and Bakery are to die for from the chocolate pie, Pecan pie, apple pie, coconut cream pie and fresh cherry pies. My favourite is their pecan pie which is the best as it is made with maple syrup. 

We met the irresistible Samson, the bulldog. He was so friendly and enjoyed visiting the market.

Happy Fourth of July to all Americans!

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Proudly Canadian: Royal Bank Of Canada Garden

 Today we are celebrating Canada Day across the nation. To celebrate Canada Day on the blog, here is one of the award winning gardens presented at the Chelsea Flower Show in London last May through the Royal Bank of Canada Garden. This garden was designed by British garden designer, Matthew Wilson who is the managing director and principal designer at Clifton Nurseries. This garden was designed by Matthew to also show RBC's Blue Water Project which is a 10 year global programme for water conservation and cleaning. The garden was designed to be easy to live with and demonstrated that home gardens can be sustainable and easily managed. The flowers and plants in this garden were so pretty and well blended together including the gigantic bonsai plant in the middle which turned out to be 150 years old! The RBC Garden was one of my favourite gardens during the Chelsea Flower Show. I heard some really positive reactions from the spectators around me and we even hoped that it will win the People's Choice Award. Unfortunately, the People's Choice Award was won by Prince Harry's Sentebale - Hope In Vulnerability Garden. This RBC Garden was awarded the Gold Gilt (Medal) during the show. This garden has been a truly proudly Canadian garden during the Chelsea Flower Show as it not only represented the goals of the RBC Blue Water Project but has also shown Canada's active participation in preserving nature and in our national trait of always helping others. 

 

  The garden was divided into three sections: a zero irrigation dry garden, a central water and harvesting and storage zone and an edible garden. 

 

 

After the Chelsea Flower Show, the Royal Bank of Canada Garden will be relocated to the Earl Mountbatten Hospice on the Isle of Wight, with the help of  UK charity Greenfingers. 

Happy Canada Day!

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