Friday 21 June 2013

My Mommy Came to Visit!

I've been really excited for my mom to come to Winnipeg and spend a couple of days hanging out with me before I start my job.  First off, I gotta say that the airport has made some significant improvements and renovations since I had last been there, 2005-ish.  Secondly, what the heck is going on in Winnipeg this weekend that has made reservations for everything nearly impossible? Le sigh.

My mom and I are both foodies and we love to eat good food, so this post will largely be restaurant reviews.  Apologies in advance if you just like to hear of my meanderings.

Beachcomber

The Beachcomber restaurant is located at the Forks. For those of you who are not from Winnipeg, the Forks is where the Assiniboine and Red rivers meet - there is a market, a hotel, several arts places and restaurants located there. It's considered a heritage site here in Winnipeg.

Needless to say, the Beachcomber has a fantastic location and a wonderful patio in which to enjoy the sunny days.  My mom and I decided to stop in for lunch as she was staying at the Inn at the Forks and it was close and we were hungry.  We also noticed that there were people eating on the patio; a good sign.  We took a seat on the patio since it was a nice day and ordered a few drinks.  My mom chose the sangria (which she didn't complain about, so I'm assuming it was good) and I had the dill pickle caesar (and the only difference between this and a regular caesar was a dill pickle instead of a celery stalk - disappointing).  My caesar was also incredibly spicy, and I have a more than moderate spice tolerance so I imagine that some may be sent back periodically.

We both decided to have the pan-fried Pickerel.  I haven't had pickerel since I've come to Winnipeg and I remember loving it when I was younger.  Similarly, my mom hadn't had it in a while given that pickerel doesn't travel well (it doesn't taste the same when you purchase it in BC).  The pickerel was served with the smallest side of (quite possibly) frozen mixed vegetables (carrots, broccoli and zucchini) and a large serving of fries.  For the price of the meal, you did get two fillets of fish which was good.  The fries were decent; crispy and cut on the small side.  I would have liked to have seen more vegetable on the plate (although not whatever god awful mix they used).  However, I have to give props to the pickerel - it was really good! It didn't require any sauce (which is good because we weren't offered any) and was flavoured with butter and garlic.  For some people, it may have been overcooked, but I like my fish a little closer to done than most.

It's difficult to rate this restaurant.  On one hand, I feel like it's an overpriced tourist trap.  But I did like the pickerel.  As an FYI, two plates and two drinks was $50.00.  Not bad, not great. Service was all right, not great. Music on the patio was far too loud and it was difficult to hold a conversation.

4/10

Beachcomber on Urbanspoon

I decided to take my mom to Unburger, but I've already reviewed that resto (which you can see here if you're interested).  We had Boston Pizza for lunch/dinner one night, and I'm not going to bother reviewing because it's a chain and the restaurants are more or less the same (although I will say that the Kenaston location seems to be a lot smaller than other BPs, which was kind of nice for lunch - no bar). Similarly, the day my momskillet left, we decided to eat brekkie at Smitty's (I had to work and it was the only thing we could find near St. Vital). 

Stella's (on Osborne)

I'm writing these reviews by what was memorable in my books.  I should alert you to the fact that my mom is a VERY picky person (at least in my opinion).  Picky about service, food - everything.  In a way this is why I like to dine with her; you can really see how far the restaurant will go to accommodate all of her needs. That being said, she is like me - willing to pay for a good product and she tips well for good service.

We went to Stella's with no reservation on Sunday morning (very early, quarter to 9-ish).  We were able to get a table right away (I'm thinking on account of the Manitoba marathon which made getting down Osborne impossible - thanks for the heads up, Winnipeg!). I had the blueberry banana french toast and my mom had smoked salmon eggs benny.   The stand out for the french toast was definitely the bread; it was soft and delicious.  Flavour-wise, it was a tad too cinnamon-y for my liking.  My mom ranted and raved that her eggs benny was cooked perfectly, which is difficult to explain to people (she likes the whites cooked, but the yolk still runny; it's considered a medium, but that's often too hard). She gobbled up the eggs benny (sans bread, she's not a huge bread eater to begin with, but the baguette it was served on was far too large for the benny. She also isn't a huge fan of hashbrowns, so I started taking bites from hers and they were really good! Very nicely herbed. Service was attentive, but not overbearing; nothing special, very typical.  

For the price, Stella's serves a good breakfast and ultimately I'd go back as long as I didn't have to wait in those infamous Stella's lines.  A few little details would have boosted the rating even higher.

8/10

Stella's Osborne on Urbanspoon

Prairie Ink


Prior to breakfast at Stella's, we decided to try Prairie Ink which is located at Grant Park Mall and is attached to the McNally-Robinson bookstore.  We decided on this place for breakfast based on decent Urbanspoon ratings and it's close proximity.  

For breakfast, it was quite crowded and many tables were set for reservation.  Luckily we were able to get in without any wait.  When we decided to order, I asked if they could do a poached egg white (it's actually quite easy - you just cook an egg white for a really long time in a poacher) and the waitress informed me that they could not.  My mom ordered the eggs benny with smoked salmon and I had the cream cheese and raspberry french toast.

When we received our order, my mom noticed that her eggs were as hard as rocks.  She had ordered them medium and was unimpressed.  My french toast was presented nicely and my favourite part was the raspberry mixed with the cream cheese.  To me the bread was a bit stiff, especially in comparison to the bread I had a Stella's the day after.  For me, it was a solid breakfast.

In Prairie Ink's defence, the waitress offered to get the plate re-made for my mom, which she declined (we were very hungry).  She then proceeded to take 25% off of her tab, which was a very kind gesture and was very much appreciated.  That's how you get repeat customers in the industry.

Service won major points for me at this little restaurant.

6.5/10


Prairie Ink Restaurant on Urbanspoon


I think I'm going to save my Sal's posting for a separate issue all together. Yup, I think so. 

Wednesday 12 June 2013

Making Friends is Hard. So is Math.

First thing is first - I am officially employed! Yay! I've been offered a few positions, but in the end I decided to take a job in retail (gasp, I know) because it had the most room for growth, the word "manager" in the title, and the salary was as competitive as the other positions.  So yay, employment finally!

With that out of the way, I've been right back at checking up all the time on my U of M application and received some startling news.  I may have to take Math 12.

Now you're probably asking yourself, "dafaq?". You have a Masters degree! This makes no sense.  Well friends, let me explain:  I didn't actually take Math 12 in high school.  I took university entrance Math 11 and did so piss poor in it that they did not recommend that I move on into Math 12.  To get into an arts program in university, you only need Math 11 with a 65% grade (which is exactly what I received).  I was told by my high school counsellors that if I enter the BA program at UBC, I could then switch into the BSc program and do my math equivalents then.  This is what I did, it was a disaster, and I ended up returning to arts.

U of M has some pretty strict requirements governing prerequisites for courses and they take them very seriously.  I was hoping to take STAT 1000 (Intro stats essentially), but the prereq is Math 12.  When I approached them on the subject, they told me I would have to take a course equivalent to Math 12 before I'd be permitted to take stats.  I think this is crazy, so once I register (or don't if the system won't allow), I'll talk to the professor of the course and get in the other way. Because it's crazy. I could understand for first year math how Math 12 may be essential, but not for stats, sorry.

Numbers and formulas are starting to become my life. Between my intro to finance class that I'm taking free online through Coursera and studying for the GMAT, my brain sometimes gets a bit twisty.  But it's interesting to note that until recently, I was very math and number averse.  Upon further reflection, I realized that the major reason I hated math so much is because teachers told me that I wasn't good at it and it wasn't my thing.  My grades in math didn't reflect this until 11th grade. How can this possibly make any sense? For my teacher friends out there, it's something to think about.  Perhaps it's time to change our mindset around how we teach math.

Making friends in Winnipeg has also been a challenge.  I'm part of the meet up website, but I haven't found anything that doesn't seem weird or creepy.  It's almost to the point where I'm considered making my own ad, but in a way that would be weird and creepy.  Something along the lines of "Hey! New Winnipeg people, let's go to this bar and hang out!" Why doesn't that exist? Why is it always some horrible structured event at somebody's house?

A Little Pizza Heaven


On a different note, I always forget about this little pizza place! It's called "A Little Pizza Heaven" and it's located right on Osborne in the village (pretty much next to The Toad).  I've eaten here a few times, only once sober.  I think that's the main draw of this place: It's open late and it's situated between so many bars that it becomes a pizza stumbling block.

Believe it or not, the first time I had tried this place was when I was sober.  I got two slices of ham and pineapple (my absolute favourite and they had some pizza by the slice for lunch - very rare in my experience).  I thought the pizza was really good for the price and I especially loved the garlic infused crust that this place is apparently known for.

On a more hilarious note, after a few "Bulldog Margaritas" at Saffrons, one of my roommates and I decided that pizza was an excellent idea and proceeded to walk down Corydon to Osborne to get a slice. Even though I was more than slightly tipsy, I still realized that the pizza I had received was "pineapple" pizza. Yes ladies and gentlemen, it was pineapple and cheese.  At the time, I didn't care, it was hella delicious.  The next day, however, I couldn't stop laughing about it.

I recommend if you're in the area.  If you can order from anywhere, I'm sure there is better in the city - aside from the garlic, there isn't anything really "special" about this place. For what it's worth from a local (I live less than three blocks from this place), I will continue to frequent A Little Pizza Heaven.

6.5/10

A Little Pizza Heaven on Urbanspoon

Sunday 9 June 2013

Huzzah!

I've had a good last few days. I had two interviews on Friday and both went well enough for me to go through to the second interviews that should be sometime next week.  There is hope for my joblessness! Although a week of applying indiscriminately for everything I was remotely qualified for sort of helped.  :P  I also finally figured out all of the stuff I needed to become a part time student at U of M this fall. Huzzah!

I also have successfully acquired my Manitoba Drivers License!

BUT back to Winnipeg food! Om nom nom!

Kawaii Crepe


This little creperie is located in the Osborne Village right on Osborne.  Styling itself as a "Japanese-style" creperie, the concept of the restaurant is very cutsie (after all Kawaii is the romanized spelling of the word for "cute" in Japanese).  The creperie offers both savory and sweet crepes alongside a myriad of bubble teas and "fusion" teas (black or green tea with a flavour shot).  You can order crepes for inside or to go (each time I've ordered it has been to go since the restaurant is always busy and is quite small).

The first time I went to Kawaii Crepe, I wanted to try their bubble tea.  I got the honeydew flavour.  For me, it was just "OK".  I'm not used to the frozen slushy drink-style bubble tea, which is what this was.  The tapioca pearls were cooked perfectly, which was a nice change from a lot of the bubble tea places I've been to. I didn't want to review a creperie based on just this bubble tea though, so I decided that I needed to get a crepe at some point.

One night, I was feeling like I needed something sweet so I decided to go try the crepes at Kawaii Crepe.  I got the milky way (Nutella and sweetened condensed milk) and an almond bubble tea.  The bubble tea was a bit disappointing as the almond flavour was the typical artificial style bubble tea flavouring packets.  The crepe was quite good, but certainly overly-sweet (which should be a given based on what I ordered).  The two together were simply too sweet for me.

I figured the over-sweet was my fault and decided to go back to the creperie to have a full meal (a savoury crepe and a sweet crepe - holy schmoly it turned out to be a lot of food!).  I had the uptown on multigrain (avocado, chicken and peppercorn mayo) and the divine brown (butter and brown sugar).  I wasn't too impressed with the multigrain crepe and I thought it tasted like a normal crepe, but with flax seeds in it.  This texture wasn't all that pleasing, but it wasn't all that bad either.  The filling of the crepe was absolutely delicious.  It was also a large portion - between the two crepes, I ended saving half of my savoury one for lunch the next day.  The dessert crepe was delicious as well, perfectly cooked and exactly what I wanted.

For those who complain about the service on Urbanspoon, I found my service to be really friendly on all three occasions I've been there.  Similarly, give the girls a break on how long it takes to get your crepe! They're working their butts off back there making every crepe individually.  I've even seen them take crepes off of the pans and throw them away because of poor consistency.  This is a good thing. They want to give you a quality product and actually care! My longest wait for a take out order was 15 minutes during a rush.  Not bad at all given how many crepes they're pumping out.

7.5/10

Kawaii Crepe on Urbanspoon


On a completely different note, I have to bring your attention to the fact that I have found a beergarita in Winnipeg. They're called "bulldog margaritas" and they're on special at Saffron's on Friday night (a double for $10 bucks). Pretty sweet deal. Here's a pic with roommate-Steve!

Wednesday 5 June 2013

Burnt Out

I am writing today, June 5, to alert everyone to the fact that I am still unemployed.  Yup.  I gave up a sure thing because I had a few more interviews, all that led nowhere.  So needless to say, I'm more than slightly discouraged and have now started indiscriminately applying for everything (well, that's not true; my focus is still on managerial positions, I think I have just widened my scope by a gazillion).  I think perhaps the most tenuous part of this period of unemployment is that I'm bored out of my skull.  I have only a few friends in Winnipeg and so a good chunk of my time is spent alone.  I try and be proactive about it, but really it's a drag.

Then there happens to be the whole "life goal" thing, which I'm starting to feel is a messed up concept all together.  Really, do you know who you'll be in 10 years? You have it all figured out?  I'm proof that people change, life changes, interests change.  We grow and we move on.  That's life.  But this doesn't satisfy the curiosity of many of my friends/family who wonder what my next move will be.  I spent an hour talking my mom out of the crazy notion I should go into social work.  I've spent more time than I care to admit on career exploration; looking at programs, reading about people's lives in specific occupations.  I don't find that it helps.  At this juncture in my life, I hate everything.

As much as this sounds like something a 16 year old would say, there is some truth and some reasoning to why I feel this way.  I spent the last 2 years of my life in a program that I didn't feel was a good fit for me from day 1.  I tried to make it work, but the truth of the matter is that it wasn't for me.  It didn't fit my personality, my natural talents... any part of it.  Yet, (somehow) I finished and look at me now. I'm completely burnt out from finding something that I may in fact want to do.  I didn't feel this way as my BA came to a close.  Recently, I think I've begun to figure out why.

For those who don't know, my Bachelor's degree is in history and anthropology and I primarily studied Canada and all of its splendours.  I enjoyed my degree probably more than most people; I found my classes to be incredibly interesting, I met so many great people and had a lot of fun.  Aside from meeting great people (and having a bit of fun), my McGill experience wasn't anything close to this.  I felt like I wasn't learning anything, simply jumping through a set of predetermined hoops and after paying a lot of money, they give you this worthless piece of paper that says,  "There you go. You have a Masters degree" .  Quite frankly, I felt like it was a complete waste of my time.  What it did, however, was confirm what I didn't want to do with my life in a variety of different ways.

So, I understand why I'm sitting at some sort of "crossroads" scenario. But I don't like it.  I hate not knowing what I'm doing or where I'm going.  I have to accept the unknown and that's really hard for me.  I've always had a plan, and now really I don't know.  I have to start thinking about what I'm passionate about and what excites me.  The problem for me is that I have a need to see how it "translates" into the real world.  Doing an MA in history would appease me for the time while I'm doing it, but I'll fall into the same problems again once I'm finished.

I've created a half-hearted solution to this problem.  One, I've signed up for a free online course in finance.  If you're shaking your head, ask yourself why. Is it so bizarre for an artsie to have an interest in business? I read Canadian Business and the Economist. I have for years.  I find it a perfectly justifiable interest. Secondly, I've decided to apply to the University of Manitoba as a "special" student (meaning I'm not there for a degree, just for course work).  I'm going to take statistics in the fall and maybe afterwards microeconomics and organizational behaviour.   Not only do I think these would be good courses to gauge my interest and aptitude, but they are also the prerequisites for the Master of Employment Relations program at Memorial (MUN).  Those of you who know me from McGill know that I applied to Queens in the fall for the Master of Industrial Relations and later pulled my application based on cost (the program is over $20000 for the year).  These courses will also be good to refresh my math brain and get me back into the swing of studying for the GMAT.  If I don't do an MER, I think I'm going to shoot for an MBA.

At this point, it's a "sort of" plan.  I think that's all I need right now.