Ali Express (by Alibaba.com)

So you walk into Walmart, Target or Superstore, find a product you like, turn it round and see Made in Chine. Unsurprizing really... But how about buying directly from Chinese suppliers?

Bistro 1847! Oh, you will be jealous!

I have found a vegetarian/vegan restaurant here in Manchester. Bistro 1847 - a hidden gem! Located not far from China Town, it has a good selection of vegetarian, vegan and Gluten free options, and of course everything is made of fresh, organic, locally sourced and non-genetically modified ingredients cooked to order. Did I miss any other trendy buzz words of a model health conscious sociopath? LOL!

For a starter I had Whole baked Blacksticks Whitehaven with crudités & breads...

...and as a main, I had beer battered halloumi, hand-cut chips & minted mushy peas (but instead of peas I have opted out for steamed greens).

Brewmaster Beer Kit!

I definitely would like to try this...

-17C, The "Cool Cat" Walk and Ethiopian Cuisine in Toronto

While the thermometer indicated -17C outside, we have decided to go for a Cool Cat's stroll in Toronto. Although the name and the description on the toronto.com website suggest a very "sexy" evening out, in the nutshell it is a stroll down the Queen St. ("it" street in Toronto) from somewhere around University Ave. down to Roncesvalles Ave. Don't get me wrong, it is a very nice stroll with many contemporary (not your everyday "mom and paps" places) eateries and shop,  and Toronto at night has its own charm.

After a while, we stabled upon Addis Ababa restaurant specializing in Ethiopian cuisine. We were cold, hungry and never tried Ethiopian cuisine before, so we went in, into the sound of live jazz music and smell of Ethiopian coffee. The menu is quit simple with equal selection of vegetarian and meat dishes, the decor included portraits of generals, woman making bread in clay ovens, giraffes and other animals, with soothing soft  (live) jazz music in the background. The food itself is served in a traditional flat Ethiopian bread, not too spicy (not too blunt either) and very tasty. We tried Yeson Beye Ainetu, a selection (sample) of all vegetarian dishes, and finished with traditional Ethiopian coffee and fried banana. And the coolest thing about the place is that everything is eaten with your hands...

Till the next time.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

EUROPEAN UNION

The European Union commissioners have announced that agreement has been reached to adopt English as the preferred language for European communications, rather than German, which was the other possibility.
As part of the negotiations, the British government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has been accepted a five year phased plan for what will be known as EuroEnglish (Euro for short).

In the first year, "s" will be used instead of the soft "c". Sertainly, sivil servants will reseive this news with joy. Also, the hard "c" will be replaced with "k". Not only will this klear up konfusion, but typewriters kan have one less letter.

There will be growing public enthusiasm in the sekond year, when the troublesome "ph" will be replased by "f". This will make words like "fotograf" 20 persent shorter.
In the third year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expected to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkorage the removal of double letters, which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of silent "e"s in the language is disgrasful, and they would go.

By the fourth year, peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" by "z" and "w" by "v". During ze fifz year, ze unesesary "0" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou", and similar changes vud, of kors, be aplid to ozer kombinations of leters.

Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German lik zey vunted in ze forst plas...

[source: Unknown]

Night out in Downtown Toronto

Now, that is why I like Toronto: small enough to get by, big enough to shine like a star during the night... After parking my "shiny" car, which was incomparably easy to Manhatan, Brooklyn, London and even Tel Aviv, I've met with the Professor (no name... right?) and we headed in search for a pub worth our presence.

The first place was a "local" dump; I don't even know its name, only that it is located at the west side of Front St., between Downtown and the Distillery District. There was a corporate event (at least we assumed it is) and some 20+ woman, after having questionable quantities of alcoholic beverages, were singing loudly Karaoke. It was fun, but...

Since we were hungry (for food), we went on in a search for a decent place and that is when we found "Le Petit Déjeuner" located on 191 King Street East. What a gem...! It is a small place (when you compare it to the typical sport bar) but with such an ambiance - high ceilings, exposed brick and soothing red and brown colours. The cafe is run by a (very friendly) Belgium owner with whom we had a lengthy chat, and it serves a good selection of European and local beers and excellent food (my mussels were fantastic).

From there (it was after 11PM), we headed back to Union Station when P.J. O'Brient got our attention. It is an Irib pub located on 39 Colborne Street, a small alley between King Street and Wellington Street, and boy... they know how to have fun! There was a live band playing Irish tunes, tough bartender (the one that has a baseball bat under the counter), a huge selection of Irish, European and local beers on a tap and a lot of good looking (all Irish) people having fun (dancing, singing, etc).

Then, even the traffic went to bed...