An evening in Ottawa

Yep! Back in Ottawa. If I keep this up I'll have to change my address to walkingsoloottawa! I have to admit that I have missed many of my friends over there. My former co-workers and I went through some pretty difficult hardships with our former employer together which created a strong bond between us. Also, some of us formed a recreational dodge ball team with the Ottawa Sports Social Club and kicked some ass! Through that team I got to meet new people and new friendships were created. I miss those crazy bastards so much and I love them all!

Anyway, I had to go to Ottawa for work-related reasons for a couple of days. Needless to say, I took advantage of that to walk around the town before meeting with my old buddies and to reminisce in the couple of years I spent there.

Walking around this city again made me remember what the problem was with Montreal. My hometown has lost a lot of its charm. You're constantly stuck in traffic and feel trapped like you can't go anywhere. The landscape is littered with orange cones and construction signs everywhere. And all of this is due to the decrepit roads, bridges, overpasses and tunnels which all threaten to collapse at any moment. This makes everybody frustrated, impatient and angry on the road and makes driving a hell of a stressful experience. It also feels dirtier than ever. Walking around as much as I did, I realized that I had to wash my face every time I got home because of all the crap in the air that sticks to your skin. The cars seem to kick up so much dust, and mixed with their exhaust it just seems to stick everywhere. There's also a distinctive smell, or stench, around the downtown area. It probably comes from the backed-up sewers who can't handle any rain, the smoke from the many many chain smokers, that stuffy rubbery smell from the metro, all the overflowing trash cans lying in the hot sun, the mix of B.O. from every single person and the car exhaust fumes binding it all together. Everyone is rushing everywhere and when you want to have some fun you can't without spending any money. It's also very difficult to stay active without a gym membership of some kind.

Ottawa, on the other hand, is a beautiful city. Some call it boring, but in my opinion, it just has a different pace of life and there's just different activities to do. I remember when I lived there, in the morning I would open up my apartment windows and there would be a fresh breeze coming in that smelled like trees and grass all around, and I lived at about a 45 minute walk from downtown. The roads were beautiful, smooth and fun to drive with long winding roads all across the city with very few stops and traffic lights, and very little construction. You could get out of the city within 30 minutes on the highway and end up in the country. The air smelled fresh and cool and there were so many parks and green areas. People would get together and play flag football, Frisbee, volleyball, soccer, heck all kinds of sports. There were beautiful trails along the Rideau river and bike paths everywhere. People were active and spent their time outside having fun and socializing. You could see it in their face that they were more at peace over there and relaxed. I found them to be a lot more friendly too.

So, as far as walking around goes, I couldn't go too far. I was going to meet my friends later that night at the very good pub Chez Lucien in the Bytown area. So I walked through the business district of town and emerged in front of the Parliament and walked west for a bit until I reached the Bank of Canada.

This is where debt comes from.

Then I headed back and walked past the Confederation building. That building houses many offices for the members of parliament (MPs) It was built in the late 1920s and was finished in the early 1930s and used to house the department of agriculture, mostly.

This is where our politicians "work".

I walked up parliament hill and walked around the parliament building. I always liked to go there because you have such a beautiful view in the back. You can see Gatineau and the Gatineau hills in the distance and a big part of Bytown. The sun was setting when I was there and it was absolutely beautiful. The only thing though is that all the grass was dead. Like yellow and brown dead. Ottawa has been going through a bad drought and it really shows. In fact, while I was there, on the news that evening they announced that there was a bush fire some where in the west end of the city. That's how bad it was. Indeed the temperature was very hot, but because it was so dry it was still comfortable. The funny thing that evening is that the hill was overrun by rabbits, they were everywhere eating whatever green leaves they could find. I guess they must have been hungry as heck with all the plants dead.

After going around, I headed to the Byward Market in Bytown to walk around and look at the local shops. I remember just a couple of years ago how everyone went completely crazy because the U.S. president, Barack Obama, made a surprise visit in the Byward Market and bought some beaver tails and cookies. The cookie shop didn't waste any time in advertising their cookies now known as Obama cookies. I bet if prime minister Stephen Harper did the same, the shop would close down in shame. Apparently, now they also had royal cookies as well for when the royal family visits. Maybe that's because of when prince William and his wife Kate came to visit last year.

Later on I passed in front of the very famous Zaphod Beeblebrox bar. Named after the character in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, this bar is where the Rolling Stones shot their music video Streets of Love!

I remember spending an evening there with my good old friend who introduced me to The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy. He's one of the coolest dudes I know, and I mean that in terms of being cool, doing cool stuff for his job and being successful at it,  and also having a cool head with a positive outlook on life. I swear he's an incarnation of Zaphod Beeblebrox himself, but WAY more humble. We were pretty excited when we saw that the bar served the famous Pan-Galactic Gargle-Blaster! We worked our way through the list of mixed drinks named after the different characters until we got to that amazing drink. Indeed, at this point we both felt like our brain had been smashed by a slice of lemon wrapped around a large gold brick.

Those were some smashing good times!

Just down the street I ended up in front of the American embassy. That building always made me feel uneasy because it looks like a freakin' high tech prison. Especially with all the concrete barriers and spiky metal fence all around it. It looks like a modern fortress. Anyway, they're still our crazy, retarded, gun-toting brother just south of us so walking in front of this building is my way of saying hello and that we love you guys no matter what. Just as long as you keep us out of your personal problems.

'Murrica!

I walked back another street, passing Irish pub, after Irish pub, after Irish pub. I swear there's an Irish pub at every corner in this part of town. It's so dense with Irish pubs, they don't know where to put 'em anymore. I swear I wouldn't last long if I did a pub crawl around here.

Even back-alleys and parking lots have Irish pubs!

I reached Dalhousie street (pronounced Dal-hoooo-zee) and thought I'd go pay a friend a visit in her own store called Milk. Unfortunately, when I got there I was just 10 minutes too late. They had already closed. But, if ever you're in town, please go visit her store. It's a great place for fashionable, unique clothes and accessories for women as well as other very cool stuff.

Finally, it was time to enter Chez Lucien. I went in and sat at the bar and had a beer while waiting for my buddies. I had a bit of a chit chat with the friendly, lovely barmaids at this French-Canadian, Habs lovin' pub in the city of the Sens. (Watch some hockey, eh.) I got ourselves a table and as the waitress cleared it up for us my friends started to pop in one after another. I ordered myself a delicious Frida and Diego burger. Their burgers are without any doubt the best hamburgers in town. And that's saying a lot considering they have the most amazing gourmet burger chain there called The Works. I had a great time with my dear Ottawa friends and I was so happy to see them again. Eventually every one had to go as all good things must come to an end, but one buddy and I went to another bar near Ottawa University and spent the rest of the night playing Foosball. Best. Night. Ever.

Now before I end this post, I'd like to make an honourable mention. The next day, I was going back home with another Ottawa friend, and dodge ball ex-teammate, who was going to spend the weekend in Montreal with me. Before hitting the road, she took me to another southern soul food place called Jean Albert's American Style Soul Food. Now remember how bat shit crazy I am over fried chicken? And remember how I went insane on Canada day when I found out about Fatboy's Southern Smokehouse? Well, dear readers, Jean Albert's even better! I ordered the fried chicken and it comes with a choice of two sides. I ordered some mashed potatoes and collard greens. Everything was absolutely delicious!!! This is home made stuff, folks. It cannot get any better than this. Indeed this is the very best soul food I've ever had and I am definitely coming back. Pay LeRoy a visit when you're in town and eat at Jean Albert's! You'll definitely won't regret it y'all!

Jazz Fest 2012

I realise I haven't posted anything in a while. It's just that I have so much to write about  and so little time. I've been quite busy lately and it's been difficult to keep up. Plus, I realise that my posts are way too long and I need to shorten them a little, starting tonight.

I went out for a couple of hours to walk around the plateau once more, getting off at the Place Des Arts metro station, right in the middle of the Montreal Jazz Festival. I love the Jazz Festival because there are so many good free live shows outside that are actually worth listening to. Plus, I have a cousin who is a baritone saxophone player in a band called Com.On.Jazz which has been playing at the festival for a couple of years now. This year they'll be playing Friday July 6th at 3pm on the Rio Tinto Alcan stage just in front of Place Des Arts at the corner of Sainte-Catherine and Jeanne-Mance. Go check them out! They're really good!

So I came out of the Place Des Arts metro and headed towards Saint-Laurent. Just as I got to the corner, there was a group of people around some street entertainers. It turned out to be this hipster bluegrass country band playing some music with a bunch of people juggling and doing stunts live on the street. The music was actually good. These guys were talented. I especially dug the big string bass. The bassist was slapping away at that thing, creating a great beat for the whole band. Too bad I didn't get the name of band because they really captivated everyone with their energy and their talent. Here's a little sample.

I stuck around for a while and when they stopped playing I started walking up Saint-Laurent towards Mont-Royal. The weather was nice, but quite humid. I had to be careful not to walk too fast so I don't become a big wandering puddle of sweat. Otherwise, I really enjoyed my evening.

On my way back down Saint-Denis, I passed by this store that I noticed before but never really quite stopped to look inside. It looks very interesting because they have all these really old vinyls in their window. They change them all the time, but lately they've been displaying these African-American soul and funk musicians LPs, which I would love to get my hands on - if I had a turn table. I love the old funky soul music, especially from the original godfather of soul himself, James Brown. But, I'd love to listen to these other ones. The Electric Boogaloo album really piqued my curiosity and I'd love to hear what it sounds like. Sure enough, the store's name was Beatnick, which sounds appropriate considering the material they sell. Beatniks were hipsters before it was even cool to be a hipster!

And as I was approaching Sherbrooke street, I passed in front of this Japanese sushi restaurant who, in what looks like a desperate attempt to attract customers, advertised a Japanese poutine. What the hell do they put in a Japanese poutine? I mean they don't have fries as a part of their traditional menu, or potatoes for that matter. They have rice as a source of starchy food over there. Let alone the gravy! Here's what it looks like anyways. You be the judge of whether this looks appealing or not.

Seriously? ಠ_ಠ

Eventually, I came back where I came from and hung around the Jazz Festival again and listened to this band called Coyote Bill playing on the Bell stage. The drummer had a Guy Fawkes mask and there were a bunch of monkey-shaped balloons on stage. They were pretty neat and had good rhythm. Unfortunately I caught them at the end of their act and the show was over two minutes after I got there.

The entrance to the stage area was surrounded by some Bell-sponsored, street-inspired art for the festival. I think it's a popular local graffiti artist who drew them because I recognised the style around town, especially in the Concordia area. Some were really well drawn. I wish I could have a mural done in my living room by a graffiti guy. That would be so freakin' cool!

And thus ended my evening walk as I got to the metro and went home to write this post. You know, for a while I was angry at the city of Montreal. The traffic, the orange cones everywhere randomly blocking streets and lanes and highways, construction, badly damaged streets, the old metro system always breaking down, the bridges and tunnels always threatening to collapse. I felt trapped sometimes and wished I could move somewhere else, either back to Ottawa or somewhere else. But, walking around town so much made me realise how there are so many hidden gems and how beautiful the city is. If only this whole place wasn't stuck neck deep in corruption in collusion and broken roads and a decrepit metro.

Anyway, I'm off to bed. Goodnight everyone and keep checking back for more articles.

Canada Day in Ottawa

Here's a weird thing about Quebec: all leases end June 30th. So on July 1st, everybody, and I do mean everybody, whose lease ended and who didn't renew it has to move. Also, July 1st is Canada day, but nobody in this province celebrates it anyway because everyone's too busy with the giant clusterfuck that is moving day. You may think that's a parade down the street? You think you see some floats coming? Well lemme get all Chuck Testa on you and say NOPE! That's just a bunch of trailers loaded with furniture racing down the street with people shuffling to get to their new flat. Then, late in the evening and during the night, you have a bunch of people driving around picking up whatever scraps that people left behind on the curb to be picked up by the garbage collectors like old TVs, tables, dressers whatever. That day really is a huge mess. And if you're lucky enough to be blessed with a pick up truck, then it's your chance to make a lot of dough helping people move.

Anyway, I wanted to run away from the chaos on that day. I've been on the down for quite a while and needed a change of scenery too. Sooo, this weekend I decided to do something of myself and invited my sis and her boyfriend to spend the day in our nation's capital, Ottawa, for Canada day and run away from the crazy moving circus in Montreal an go partay! It turned out that a little cousin of mine and my sister's boyfriend's sister (sister in law?) wanted to come as well. Hey! The more the merrier! It's also going to be a fun experience for the kids. Plus, I'll finally get to show my sis and her boyfriend the town I lived in for 3 years. They never had the chance to come visit while I lived there, which is very sad. There was so much I wanted to show them there and it would have been such a pleasure to have them over. Well, it's all in the past now and I was happy to finally give them a little tour on such a special day.

O Canada!

To drive there I took the scenic route via highway 17 passing through all the small towns along the Ottawa river or rivière des Outaouais. It's a really nice road to take because you get to see beautiful quaint little farming towns with your typical country houses. When you get close to the city of Ottawa, you drive along the river itself an you have a beautiful view. Everyone in the car really enjoyed their ride and that made me really happy.

When we finally got in town, it was lunch time but no one was hungry yet. So I decided to start slow and show them the spots I used to go to, to see the ducks and geese. There's this little park where the Rideau river passes through and it's usually filled with birds. So we stopped there and everyone was amazed. Even I couldn't believe how many geese there were. And so many young goslings too.

No, no, no! Not him!

As we went down the riverbank, they congregated around us. It was obvious that they were used to being fed by visitors.

Just behind us, up in the grass, a tall blue heron landed and slowly made his way down to the river to soak his feet in the shallow water. What a beautiful bird! By the way, here's a funny story: I once almost hit a heron on the highway on my way from Montreal to Ottawa. It came flying out from behind a patch of trees and was going to cross the road right at the level of my car's windshield just as I was passing by. I had to suddenly swerve away to the left  to avoid the bird as it made a sudden dive to its right and we both looked at each other while we were side by side with the dumbest look of surprise on our face. But anyway, here's what the heron looked like.

As it strutted it stuff in the shallow water, two royal swans came to say hello. Yes, they are ROYAL swans and here's why: 

"Queen Elizabeth II gave six pairs of mute swans to the City of Ottawa in 1967 in honour of Canada’s 100th birthday. The Mute swans you see in the river today are descendants of these original six pairs." - Green Living Ottawa

 One of them is a white swan and the other is black. They are beautiful, calm big birds and they're always amazing to watch. They're really friendly too and they will come close to you without any fear.

After playing around with the birds long enough it was time for lunch. I drove around a bit to show my peeps the Rideau Canal and a few other sights and we headed to Bank Street in the Glebe where we stopped at Nicastro's to get a tasty fresh Italian porchetta sandwich and a bunch of olives. Nicastro's is one of the best places in Ottawa to get some good sandwiches and paninis. Another great spot is Babbo's on Main street at the corner of Hawthorne near the highway 417. In both these places the staff is super friendly and their sandwiches are amazing. You can get them with a nice Sanpelegrino fruit soda and a little dessert if you want. Babbo's has some really good desserts by the way! Unfortunately I don't have any pictures as we were super hungry and we were just focused on eating. Oh well.

Once we had our lunch I took the gang to Little Italy. I really wanted to show my brother in law this pub that sells a gazillion kinds of imported beers from around the world. They literally have a book of beers! The place is called Pub Italia. It's a bit of a weird place because it's probably the main attraction in Little Italy, yet it has nothing that looks Italian about it. In fact, their sign is a big Irish Shamrock filled with the colours of the Italian flag. The inside of the place looks like an old medieval church too. But, it's a great place with great food and, of course, awesome beer! So after showing that place to my brother in law we kept on walking in that part of town and entered a few places to check out desserts and gelatos in a little bakery called Pasticceria Gelateria Italiana. This is an excellent place to get an espresso while enjoying some incredibly delicious desserts or getting a big cup of gelato.

Finally, we went back to the car and headed to Dow's lake just down the street for a little afternoon break. The bro and I sat on a patio at Malone's Lakeside Grill while my sister and his sister went for a paddle boat ride. We just chilled there for about an hour and I got to enjoy a fresh cold delicious Steamwhistle. Steamwhistle is my most favourite beer EVER! I swear, I had dreams about that beer! I don't know what it is about it, it's just so delicious! When I crave beer, I crave THAT one. it's a damn shame it can't even be sold in Quebec because of stupid protectionist laws. Steamwhistle is a microbrewery located at the foot of the CN tower in Toronto. They only make the one pilsner and they are really proud of it because they do that one thing really, really well!

After our little break, we went to check out a little fair that was happening in a nearby park. We hung out and the girls tried a couple of rides that were like those spinning cups that you sit in. There was this one called the Ring of Fire that looked like a Stargate. Riders sat in this caged cart like a bunch of chickens as the the whole thing went full 360 around the inside of the wobbly ring, held upright by a few cables. I think I'll just go get some cotton candy, thanks.

No, that's not a young Stargate fan convention,

Then we headed downtown to join the real festivities, walk around and take some pictures. As usual, for Canada day, the parliament hill and the surrounding streets were packed with people. Sparks street, a pedestrian street, had street performers and every restaurant had a large patio where people could sit and eat while enjoying the great weather and the festive vibe. It was hard to navigate through while trying to keep everybody together. But, it was nice to be able to show the gang all the monuments and statues and the locks connecting the Ottawa river to the canal, etc.

My sister insisted that we go see "the spider" named Maman, French for mother. I HATE that thing. It creeps the hell out of me! I don't know why, but every time I look at it I get the feeling it's going to start moving like one of those frame-by-frame animated monsters from the movie Beetlejuice and stab everyone to death with its sharp legs. To top it off, the godawful thing has an EGG SACK under it's belly!

*Shudder*

UGH!! GAWD!! KILL IT WITH FIRE AND MAGNETS!!

Thankfully, we didn't hang around there for too long and we headed into the Byward Market for dinner. We were on Murray street, talking about what kind of food we were feeling like having and I was giving the gang some viable options that are good for everyone when suddenly, there was a light that came from heaven and angels were signing.

Fatboys Southern Smokehouse. Wait... SOUTHERN? Does that mean....

That place was new because I never saw it before when I was living in Ottawa just a year ago. Fatboys Southern Smokehouse. The word Southern caught my attention and we crossed the street to check out their menu. SWEET LAWD ALMIGHTY! THEY HAVE SOUTHERN FRIED CHICKEN! I don't know if you remember, but I've been craving some good real southern style fried chicken for a long time now. Of course, Montreal didn't have anything to satisfy this craving. Sure enough, I had to go to another city, in whole other province to accidentally stumble upon such a wonderful place. So in we went.

This place is AH-Mazing. When we came in we were greeted by a couple of super friendly smiling employees. We could hear some live music from inside the restaurant and as we walked further in we noticed there was a stage inside the restaurant for live bands and there were a couple of guys playing guitar and singing rock songs. The whole place was well decorated, but the icing on the cake was the statue of a colonel greeting you in the entrance to the dining area. I was psyched!

There was a really good crowd at the restaurant that evening too. There were lots of people from the States who were there. Some of which were from Georgia such as this one dude who was the life of the party at his table. The dude and the band kept interacting back and forth and were entertaining everyone in the restaurant. The band kept calling out for people in the crowd who had a musical talent and of course, the dude goes up to the stage with his harmonica and started playing with the band. They were a lot of fun to watch and the band kept on playing some really cool songs and everyone was singing along. It was great!

What was even better was the menu. Good God! It all looked so good! They served chicken, beef brisket, pulled pork, ribs and a lot more, plus a surprisingly awesome list of sides. Finally, real, authentic, southern food! I was so happy! THIS is what we're missing in Montreal!!! Here's a part of the menu.

Go check out the full menu on their website!

When the waiter arrived, I placed my order: GIMME SOME FRIED FUCKING CHICKEN!!!!!!!11 with a side of creamed corn, smoked bacon mac n cheese and the cornbread. I will need to go back there to try the mash and gravy and the collard greens. The rest of the gang all got the ribs with fries. When we got our food, I took the time to admire my food. Looked at it, smelled it. It looked and smelled delicious.

The picture doesn't do the creamed corn any justice.

Mmmmm-mmm! I wish you were there to taste this.

I grabbed a piece and sank my teeth into it. Sweet Jesus! This is what I was yearning! This was the perfect combination of spices and herbs and the chicken was the juiciest chicken I've ever tasted. If this is good, I can't imagine how amazing the real deal must be like down south! The creamed corn is home made and was delicious. The mac n cheese was amazing as well, with the bechamel sauce and the bacon. The cornbread though was super moist and sweet and reminded me of the corn bread muffin mix you buy at the grocery store. I wasn't too impressed by that. Good cornbread is the next thing I need to get. My sister and I traded a piece of chicken for some ribs and I gotta say, the ribs were not the fall off the bone smoked ribs I've been used to, but man they were tasty! Next time I'm in town, I'm definitely making this my go to spot. Sorry The Works. Your burgers are still thunderbitchin', but they can't beat southern fried chicken. We can still be friends and meet from time to time though, right?

After an awesome meal accompanied by great entertainment, we headed out to find a spot to squat and wait for the evening Canada day fireworks to start. When the clock hit 10, the show started. I gotta say, this year they really put on a great show. The final was deafening and absolutely crazy. Our day couldn't have ended any better.

When the fireworks were over, we squeezed through the crowd and fought our way back to the car and left the city to go back home. Everyone was pooped and the whole gang fell asleep in the car, except for my little cousin who was still way too excited about her day to even blink. I filled up my car on cheap gas right before the Quebec border (CAN $1.17/L or US $4.42/gal) and it's a good thing I did, because gas in Montreal was more expensive at CAN $1.32/L or roughly US $5/L and I barely used any gas.

What a day. Canada day celebrations with great people that I love, FRIED CHICKEN and ending it all with a big bang! It couldn't have been any better!