Exploring Glen Stewart Ravine

Posted on August 11, 2020 by Bhanu Misra Marya

The last few months of the shelter in place with the people in your own household was challenging and rewarding experience. On one hand, we were with each other all the time without the help of our village and on the other hand we got to spend all this time together that I always felt we were missing out.

When some of the restrictions lifted it was nice to enjoy the warm weather which worked really well as some of the first areas to open for public use were golf courses, open space parks and trails.

We have some great friends and family who made plans / did the research to figure out where to go and what to see (Nokiidaa Trail, Moccasin Trail and Wahoosh Falls) and then finally got out of my energy rut and found Glen Stewart Ravine and knew we had to check it out.

Glen Stewart Ravine is a lush, deep forest albeit short trail walk in the middle of the city is pure magic. There are number of streams, downed logs for seating and lots of shade.

There are a few different entrances (Beech St, Glen Manor Dr and Kingston Rd), we came in from Kingston and there were a few 100 stairs to make it down. We managed to see the cute stream (pictured below) and then found a cute shaded area to eat lunch (pictured above).

The middle of the trail is the entrance from Beech and it literally looked like we were in Hawaii!

The trail is not stroller friendly so keep babies in a carrier and leave the bikes/scooters at home. The air is fresh and the way the sun pours in through the trees is amazing – you’ll just wish the trail was much longer :)

Lunch at Restoration Hardware

Posted on March 3, 2019 by Bhanu Misra Marya

You know you are a parent of young children when you feel the best way to describe a delicious child free meal is by quoting Julia, Child. 😂😂

We don’t often do this. Fancy restaurants are just not in the docket with spilt milk and sticky fingers. But we are finding that as the girls are growing we have more opportunities to make time for just the 2 of us.

With that said, we finally checked out Restoration Hardware Cafe. I’ve heard soooo many good things about this restaurant. About how beautiful it is, about the chandeliers, the trees and the furnishings.

At the cafe, we started with their fries and garlic aioli. Ya I know basic, but so delicious. The fries weren’t too thick and were the perfect combination of crispy and fluffy. I enjoyed the fries with a refreshing glass of Pinot Grigio. As I was choosing my main, the Simple Prep Fish (which was a marinate of EVOO, dill and lemon), the server suggested I go with the Gem Salad as pair. All of my favourite ingredients put together in a meal – yes I will!

The filet of fish was thin and so the flavors were evenly distributed. I asked for my salad dressing on the side and thankfully so because it was the perfect accent to the fish. The mister got the RH burger which was a double pattie – which he said was also good.

We did stroll around the store before and after lunch. In my humble opinion, the pieces are more suited for a mansion than a small suburban home. Thankfully the cafe doesn’t give off that vibe at all]. And for me the food was way more delightful.

(Tip from a local: if you are going to the restaurant, get there early. They do not take reservations and the wait time can be anywhere from 10-60 min)

My Weekend in Seattle

Posted on October 15, 2018 by Bhanu Misra Marya

A few Thursdays ago I left my babies for the FIRST time ever and flew to Seattle to visit my best friend from University. We became best friends during our undergrad and roommates during our undergrad. And after we graduated, we both grew up in separate ways (I stayed course with my career in the GTA and she pursued med school and competitive speciality in her field in the US).

Considering our lives took two separate directions we worked really hard in maintaining our friendship. Now that doesn’t mean we talk everyday or even regularly on the phone. But it does mean putting in the effort to communicate and meet up when we can.

I flew in late into Seattle and arrived just after 10pm but our plane was stranded on the tarmac as there were no available gates. They finally got a mobile ramp and bus out to us so we could get into the airport. I was exhausted by the time I got to my friends house and we went to bed as soon as we could. Because I was still on Toronto time we were up by 6am (9am Seattle time). We did a ton of sight seeing, eating, drinking cocktails, walking and of course chatting. I was back on the 7am flight out of Seattle so I could be back in toronto at a reasonable time to see the girls but also get ready for the work week.

Honestly speaking, I was worried I wouldn’t have the energy to go and really be present (like could I rally after so many years!) but I guess anything is possible (like a late night fiesta) after a mid day siesta :) and an understanding friend.

We started the weekend off by getting the best view of the city skyline at Kerry Park. After we got tons of photos we followed that up with brunch and extra large mimosas at Toulouse Petit. I had the truffle and asparagus omelette – sooo good!

We then went out to Freeway park, a secret concrete waterfall hidden among the highway systems that go through the downtown core. I loved all the lines and geometry of the structures.

We then checked out another hidden waterfall closer to the downtown core. After a quick game of connect 4 in Pioneer Square, we walked to a General Porpoise, a popular donut and cafe shop in Capitol Hill. After a quick pitstop at Target (man it still hurts that they left Canada) we went to the biggest tourist attraction of all Pike Place Market. We tried blowing the perfect bubble gum bubble (way harder than it looks), rode the Miner’s Landing indoor merry-go-round took pictures a pretty pink wall, went up to this gorgeous root top bar only to leave within 15 minutes because they didn’t have a decent enough food menu, so instead (and thankfully!) ended up at this popular perogies stand at Pike Place. We then grabbed an uber home and I literally slept for 2.5 hours! Only waking up to get dressed and head out to dinner at List which had the MOST amazing fresh mozz salad. We followed that up with some strong drinks at Navy Strength, a tiki bar in the same area. AND then we went back to Toulouse Petit, for a night cap :)

The next day we had every intention to work out, but after the tiki bar/night cap situation, I figured it would be better if I took it easy and eat a few grilled cheeses. We watched a too many episodes of FRIENDS and chatted about life before heading out to do some shopping. I picked up stuff for the girls and A, some workout gear and a little something at Nordstrom Rack before we went to grab a late lunch at Bario, had a double scoop of ice cream at Molly Moons, a stroll through the rainbow crosswalks and tried a speciality roast affagato at the Starbucks Reserve & Tasting Room. We arrived for dinner around 6 at Cafe Flora, a very busy vegetarian/vegan restaurant.

Our Trip to Mexico

Posted on June 25, 2018 by Bhanu Misra Marya

It’s been 3 months since I last published a post.

I had may reasons for not blogging and for making all my posts private. But none of them are worth typing up here. What I can say is that I MISSED blogging and that I really LIKE blogging more than social media.

Call me old school but something about getting your thoughts out without having to worry about character limits, engaging on every single platform or building metrics. Oh man it’s exhausting. I mean I understand why it’s needed but my blog isn’t about that. It’s more for me, about building personal and professional skills and documenting my life so I can look back and smile!

With that said I figure I should make my foray back into posting on my blog by reminiscing about our trip to Mexico! At the end of May, we travelled to Puerto Vallarta for my husband’s nieces wedding.Can I just say that we had SUCH a blast……!

Maybe it’s the age of our daughters, or that we were able to chill with our cousins (who are also parents to young kids) or that we got to attend a destination wedding or that we hadn’t been to a carribean resort in over 3.5 years. Well, it was most likely a combination of all of those things – and if I haven’t said it, I’ll say it again…it was such a great vacation.

Thinking back on the planning and preparation for the trip, I had zero expectations for a good time. I mean we were travelling and staying with family the ENTIRE time. We had never been to a destination wedding (and Indian weddings are a lot of work when you are part of the family). And lastly, being on a plane with 2 little ones is always daunting to me. But, I will be the first to say, I was pleasantly surprised. With some boundaries and keeping the kids top priority during the non wedding time we were able to really enjoy and relax.

Figured I’d share some pictures and some of the memories!

Our trip to India – Quick Recap

Posted on January 20, 2013 by thrulesyeux

“India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grand mother of tradition. Our most valuable and most astrictive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only!” Mark Twain

In saying that, the food is amazing, the history is rich, the culture is a little blurred these days but the fashion is still intense.

We had the amazing chance to expore North India (Delhi, Gurgaon, Ajmer, Pushkar, Jaipur, Jalandarh, Amrisar, Chandigarh, Nalagarh & Agra) to visit some amazing sights and people (our family :P)