Luma Brunch with Tim Burton

I took quite the beating today, but I had fun. That’s the theme for the day as I went through a series of painful experiences but had a blast out of it all. We won’t talk about the pain though. Let’s stick with the fun parts when the boyfriend and I were at the TIFF Bell Lightbox!

We started our day bright and early (rainy/snowy and early rather) and headed down to the TIFF Bell Lightbox. The plan was to grab brunch at the O&B Canteen before our 1 pm reservation for the exhibition. Unfortunately, the Canteen was packed, so we took the waitress’ advice and went up to Luma and the Blackberry Lounge. Note: prices were similar, and it was much less crowded and more comfortable!

It was an easy decision for both of us after browsing the menu. I ordered the eggs benedict with fresh apple cider, and Jon ordered the omelette with fresh grapefruit juice. Actually, he wanted the eggs benedict. We ended up sharing anyway!

The fresh apple cider was delicious and had a nice hint of cinnamon. Mmm… This was a nice start, but once the food came, I forgot all about my drink, because:

This was the tastiest eggs benedict ever. The eggs rested on ham and fluffy croissant. The Hollandaise sauce drizzled on top is the best I have had. My meal was tasty, but I was also eying Jon’s:

Words cannot describe how good his omelette was. The cheese atop and the spinach at the bottom…oh my. Basically, if you are ever looking for a place to have brunch in Toronto, head over to Luma. It won’t disappoint.

After an unbelievable brunch, off to the Tim Burton exhibit we went, but not before bumping into JT and her bf. Surprise surprise, we were both going to the 1pm show! Awesome. No photography in the exhibit allowed, which was a good thing or else I’d spend at least five hours in there instead of the 1.5 hours. I was near passing out towards the end because of the stuffiness and dehydration, but it was worth it. Tim Burton is brilliant. What a talented genius.

Since today was the last day of the exhibit, I can’t exactly say “You should check it out!” But you should try your darnedest to find out if it’s showing in another city, because it’s well worth every dollar.

As a parting gift, here are two photos from my visit to the TIFF Bell Lightbox in November, days before the exhibit opened. A high school friend who worked there kindly got me and the bf two tickets to see Tim Burton’s Live Q&A followed by a screening of Edward Scissorhands. It was an unforgettable night. Can’t wait to see what else is coming to the TIFF Bell Lightbox!

We chose seats near the back of the theatre to have a good view of Edward Scissorhands. Unfortunately, this meant we were quite far from the man. Oh well; we heard all of his articulate answers to the Q&A and that was enough to satisfy our geekiness!

Rainy Tasty Nappy Kind of Day

Everyone needs a sleep-in, get-picked-up-by-girlfriend-from-the-subway-station, greeted-with-cold-milk-tea, buy-spontaneous-snack, wind-down, enjoy-a-comfortable-nap kind of day. Today was that kind of a day.

After crashing at 10:45pm last night, I slept in today and enjoyed 13 hours of slumber. It sounds crazy, but it’s kind of typical of me to sleep too much on Saturdays. I need it to compensate for the lack of sleep during the crazy weekdays.

As soon as I got out of bed and went downstairs, my sister greeted me with my breakfast:

If you’re wondering what that is, she had baked it last night: an Oreo-stuffed chocolate chip cookie. Yes, for breakfast. Gross, right? I had it with a glass of milk, if that helps…

After a late dim-sum lunch with the family and running into family friends—one of which is my oldest friend who is celebrating her 24th birthday in Vegas + LA next week (I am so jealous!)—I fought the rainstorm and relentless wind on a mission for the bf! Jon had a final exam this afternoon, and I promised him several things: 1) I’d pick up a large cold milk tea from our favourite bubble tea shop, Tasty House; 2) I’d pick him up from the subway station; and 3) We’d have dinner tonight and spend quality time together.

Before heading back to his place, since he was hungry, we decided to purchase a snack we’ve been craving for months. Spicy lamb skewers:

Man, oh man. Those things are heavenly. If you’ve never tried one, you must make it a mission for yourself. Perhaps make plans to visit Night It Up! this July in Markham? You won’t regret it.

The day continued with watching two of our favourite shows—Modern Family and Hawaii Five-0—dinner and a wonderful nap from which Jon refused to wake me because he knew I was far too comfortable.

I was a little mad he didn’t wake me earlier and I ended up napping too much…but he’s a sweetheart and didn’t want to disturb me since I rarely get to nap like that. Aw! FYI: my boyfriend is cooler than your boyfriend.

Tomorrow: Tim Burton exhibit at the TIFF Bell Lightbox (finally, on its last day) and lunch at O&B Canteen (their smoked salmon sandwich is delicious)! Apparently mom is making bacon for breakfast that my sister got for free from a local Guelph farm? Sweet.

Hope everyone had a great Saturday! What did you do?

limitless salad king

So that Bradley Cooper…does he have really beautiful blue eyes or what?

Last night was the advance screening of Limitless, starring Bradley Cooper, Abbie Cornish and Robert De Niro. I guess you could also refer to it as “that Bradley Cooper movie.” I’ve been looking forward to this film ever since I watched the trailer, so imagine how thrilled I was to find out Alliance was giving out passes online! Of course, the boyfriend and I got passes. I asked @ayl to come along and decided to eat out downtown after. My night was set.

What did I think of Limitless? It’s fun, exhilarating and unpredictable. There were some sequences that were truly limitless; it was unbelievable how seamless they managed to make the continuous scenes. I enjoyed it; although it got quite bizarre three quarters into the film. My thoughts went from “Wow, this is awesome.” to “What on earth is going on?” to “Okay, wtf, seriously?!” It was great fun to monitor the audience reaction too. Everybody was on the edge of their seat with sweaty palms. Maybe everyone was overenthusiastic because it was an advance screening, but the entire crowd was very vocal, ooh-ahhing and gasping at every other scene. I guess that’s a good thing?

A movie review will follow this post. Stay tuned!

After Limitless, I had my first Salad King experience. I ordered the bf and @JennTaylor973 favourite—green curry chicken with three chillies. The bf and I also shared a Tom Yum Goon (hot and sour shrimp soup) with three chillies. Everything was delicious! The sweet coconut flavour had me wanting to drink the curry as soup. Now I understand the lineups and the anticipation of its return after the building collapsed.

After eating out two nights in a row, I’m more eager to find a place downtown and move out than I had ever been. Can’t wait to experience the true life in the city!