Good Chinese Food in Collingwood, Ontario

One of the pleasures of travel is enjoying the good food offered by the local restaurants of the city we are visiting. Since I am retired and living on a fixed income, I am also watching my budget but this does not necessary mean that I can't enjoy delicious food.

We visited downtown Collingwood a few days ago and had some tasty Chinese food at Panda, one of the  restaurants that offer Asian dishes.

Though 98 Super Panda is not a fancy place for a romantic evening dinner, it is bright, cheerfully decorated - a good and very affordable diner for lunches and take out food when one is not in the mood to slave over a stove.



The menu offers a good selection of dishes and what I like most about it is the section for healthy, low fat and low salt dishes. Since my mother is a diabetic and she loves Asian food, I am always on the lookout for delicious dishes which she could enjoy without worrying about her sugar and cholesterol level.

General Tao's chicken & Sweet & Sour Chicken

My favourite dish from the Panda Restaurant is the General Tao Chicken. I have eaten the same dish at many Chinese restaurants, but Panda topped it for me. We enjoyed the first order so much that we placed another order to take out but could not wait but finished it before we took it back to our hotel!

R.T.
Collingwood, Ontario

Intrawest Village at Blue Mountain, Collingwood, Ontario

One of the  Intrawest condo's facing the ski hills at the Village

So glad that we are back in Collingwood and continue our winter holiday!

The Village has a lot of amenities including this pond for skating in winter

We would really like to make use of every opportunity we have and enjoy skiing in this small tourist town.












The temperatures, however, was not cooperating; it would be hovering between  minus 12 degree C - minus 22 degrees for the next few days.

Paint Your Own Pottery shop at the Village Square

Instead of picking up our skis and heading to the hills, we donned our winter walking gear and strolled around the Village at Blue Mountain.

The Pond at the Village -where street hockey games and pleasure skating take place

We first started coming to Blue Mountain to ski in the early 1980's when our two sons were very young. There were not many buildings or amenities around the ski area.

 Between 1990's - 2010's, we have seen a lot of building projects and development taking place in this town with the majority of it built by Intrawest.

Shops at the Village by the ski hills

Today, the ski area has been built up with numerous beautiful resort condominiums with an array of shops and services catering to skiers and holiday makers.

One of the many resort buildings in the Village 

Christmas lights at the Village

There are a lot of things to keep us busy while we are not skiing.

Taking a walk in the Village, poking around in the many shops and enjoying a cup of hot drink in Starbuck is a pleasure in itself.

It was a cold but leisurely and relaxing visit at the Village and we thoroughly enjoyed it!


R.T.
Blue Mountain near
Collingwood, Ontario

A Break in Our Holiday

Snowmen on the front yard of some houses in Collingwood

We were supposed to be away on a ski holiday for a week in Collingwood.

But we drove back to Toronto after our day of skiing on Blue Mountain as Er. needed to fly back to the States  before New Year's Eve.

I was hoping that we could talk a bit more during our two hour drive home but like so many young people these days, with the cell phone in his hand, Er. was immersed in his own world with the apps. on his cell. This is the sad part of technology - instead of one to one personal contacts, many people in modern societies are pre-occupied with technology gadgets and the programs on electronic devices.

We were glad to see Jonathan feeling better resting at our place. Unfortunately, no sooner had we entered the house, Jonathan and I had a little unpleasant exchange of remarks. Though it was a minor incident, it really bothered me that whenever we have the whole family for the holiday, there has to be an unpleasant conversation somehow. Have we become a part of the Hollywood movies that poke fun at families at holiday gatherings? I hope not and I want to break that curse and stereotype!!!

We spent a couple days in Toronto which gave us an opportunity to attend the last Sunday Service in 2013, took my mom out for lunch and did a couple of errands.

We drove Er. to the airport on Monday and drove back to Collingwood to continue our holidays!

R.T.
Toronto
Boxing Week

Anchors Away Ice Sculpture Festival in Collingwood, Ontario

Federal Government Building, Downtown Collingwood, Ontario

Collingwood, one of our favourite small towns to visit in Ontario, is a two hour drive north west of Toronto. We come here a lot to ski in the winter. It is a pretty tourist town.






It was almost 11p.m. when we finished our game at the bowling alley.

On our way back to the hotel,  we made a detour to see the ice sculptures lining both sides of the main street of downtown Collingwood.

An Anchor

We did not realize that there was an ice sculpture festival in Collingwood, a town with a population of about 19,000 residents.

We have been to this small town before numerous times and this was the first time we came across the ice sculptures so we stopped and took a look at them even though it was in the middle of the night.

This year's theme is called Anchors Away and the ice sculpture festival runs from December 27- January 5, 2013.

Therefore, there were a number of ice sculptures on display, all to do with water.













Though the sculptures were not very large, they were all illuminated with colorful lighting and were fun to look at and for picture taking.

The weather was supposedly to be warming up. So I made sure that we could see the ice sculptures before they were melt away by the warm temperatures in the next few days.

We went back during the day to see a few more ice sculptures. A nice activity when it's too cold to ski on the hill!

There were lot more ice sculptures but I am only showing a few here. I hope you will have a chance to see them in person!

R.T.
Collingwood
Boxing Week

Bowling in Collingwood

 A Snowman in Collingwood

We planned to go skiing in Collingwood and checked in at our hotel.

Our friends came over to visit us at the resort. We had not seen our friends for a little while so I prepared a quick dinner for the five of us at our suite. Er. seemed to like talking to D. and his brother. After a quick store bought chicken dinner, we headed for a game of bowling at the Bowling place.

5 Pin Bowling in Collingwood

It was strange that we have been going to Collingwood for a long time since the boys were small, but we had never gone bowling until now. I was more surprised when Doug told me that he had never gone bowling at all and he has been living in this town all his life!!!







We were unable to get a lane before 8p.m. so we went for the 9:30p.m. lane. It was 5 pin bowling.

5 Pin Bowling can be as fun as 10 Pins

A bowler could get a game for $ 7.00 or you could get a lane for an hour for $40.00. which we thought was a better deal.









We could easily get two games per bowler out of an hour and 15 minutes for which we paid extra. We found that 5 pin bowling is not easier than 10 pins. In fact 5 pin bowling is just as challenging.

During the first game, everyone did not do as well and Doug was skeptical about the experience as he had never done it.

However, as the game progressed, he seemed to be enjoying it more especially when he was able to have a spare and everyone was giving him the high five!

Getting a strike!

E. seemed to enjoy the game and was the most consistent in his scores. He came second in the first game short of a few points but came up the first scoring much higher than his first game.Doug came last out of the five of us in the first game. He improved a lot during our second game. As a matter of fact, he was not the one with the lowest score at the end of the game, I was!

We paid for the extra 10 minutes to finish our second game. Though we were the last bowlers in the bowling alley, the friendly staff person at the front desk waited for us to finish our game without hurrying us out of there. Great service and we definitely will be back to play more games there!

R.T.
Collingwood, Ontario
Boxing Week

Skiing at Blue Mountain, Ontario

Blue Mountain - 2 hour drive from Toronto

One activity which our whole family can enjoy together is skiing! We try to make it to the ski hill every year around Christmas time when our older son is home for the holidays.

Lift Ticket Rates at Blue Mountain

However, as if it is in the movie, something invariably happens each time that dampens our spirit. I remember a few years back, during one of the skiing trip, our car was towed away when one of us must get back to Toronto at a certain time.

South Base Lodge

Last time when we were skiing and having a good time, Er's front tooth was chipped causing him much anxiety as he was due back to work in New York right after the holiday.

This year, we looked forward to our family skiing trip but unfortunately, Jonathan came down with a cold and unable to join us. So the three of us drove to Blue Mountain for our skiing trip.

Blue Mountain, the highest peak in central Ontario, is a two hour drive north west of Toronto.

 It is not a hill for aggressive skiers but good enough for people who are desperate to get out of the city to ski.

One of the trails at Blue Mountain

We used to put up with the eight hour drive to Mount Tremblant in Quebec or Lake Placid in New York when our sons were little and could ski for 3-5 days.

Looking down from the top of Blue Mountain ski hill

Nowadays, they are only willing to travel for two hours for a day of skiing, so this is good for us as long as the family can spend some time together.  

Breathtaking post card snow scenery

We knew that going to the main lodge would be very busy as we went the day after Boxing Day. So my husband dropped us off to get lift tickets while he parked our car at the South Base lodge. The lineup there was much shorter.

We were very lucky as it had been cold for the past week. But the day we went skiing, the temperature was perfect, hovering at minus 1 degree and it was foggy so that we did not have the bright sun blinding us when we went down the hills.

In fact the weather was so mild that skiers did not mind having their refreshments outside.

The scenery on the ski hill was breathtaking! With the soft breeze blowing on our faces, the cool winter air was refreshing and invigorating.  After a few months cooping indoors, this outdoor skiing activity is my most favorite and enjoyable thing to do!

I was nervous at the beginning since this was the first time we skied this season. But I was able to get down the blue hills without a lot of difficulty. You never know how your body would react when you fall while skiing.

 I did fall a few times on more challenging runs but I was not hurt. I guess my regular exercise classes help my body to be more flexible so when I fell, it was not bad at all.

The lights came on shortly after 4p.m. for night skiing

Since we started late, after 1p.m. in the afternoon and Er. had to get back to Toronto by 7p.m., we did not take any breaks at all. We just kept skiing and made as many runs as possible.

There were some splits on the runs and we were separated at the first run. I waited at the bottom of the hill for my family for about 20 minutes and they found me later. I must remember to bring my cell next time in case we get separated, we can text or call each other!

Skiing is a great winter family activity!!!

We love skiing! This is one activity our whole family can always do together.

As long as we are healthy and strong enough to do it, we will always be skiing on the hills during the holidays. We are grateful that we can have fun together as a family!

R.T.
Blue Mountain near Collingwood
Boxing Week, 2013

Spending Christmas with Families During Toronto's Worst Ice Storm

Toronto has just experienced one of the worst ice storms in years.

 Our family celebrated Christmas on the evening of December 22 at my brother's condo. We had a great time seeing family members whom we don't normally see and had a fantastic potluck dinner together. This is our annual big family get together. It is a tradition that has been going on for more than thirty years. Everyone from our family, including the young people studying and working elsewhere in North America, always tries his/her best to make it for this big family dinner.

Some people might be inconvenient, but the scenery was beautiful during the ice storm as all the tree branches sparkled 

We had a great time eating, catching up, meeting the latest new family members and just hanging out together. After all the food, it was our family tradition time - the Christmas Gift Stealing game. Instead of everybody buying a gift for everyone, each person only requires to bring one gift for the gift exchange game. Each of the fifteen cousins takes turn to be responsible for making the rules and leading the game. This year, Jordon was responsible for the game and there was some very interesting gift items.

It was very fortunate that the power outage did not take place until we all got home and were ready for bed!
Those of us living in North York of Toronto were the hardest hit. We lost power on the night of Dec. 22 and did not get the power back until the late morning of December of 24.

We had to stay at Jonathan's apartment for the second night of the power outage. By the third night we were expecting Er. coming home for Christmas and therefore made contingency plan to stay at Dave's guest suites. Staying at Dave's gave us an opportunity to spend sometime with Dave and his family. Since Er. missed the big family dinner, it also allowed him to see some of the family members. He even went to the Christmas Eve's mass with Susan and Mickela! We went to the Untied Church service on Bathurst and Bloor, but were surprised that the church was not even full for the Christmas service.

However, we were glad that we could spend time attending a church service together as a family.
Next year, we will plan better so that our whole family will go together to a church service on Christmas Eve to celebrate God's best gift to mankind!

While many Torontonians spent their Christmas without power, we were fortunate that we live in one of the most orderly and civilized compassionate cities in the world.

Every branch of each tree was encrested with ice during the ice storm

Though at the height of the ice storm, some 600,000 people lost power and for many living in high rises and were without power for more than a few days while some lost power up to seven days, we were proud to know that there were no looting, no vandalism or any disorderly or unruly incidents.

We live in a highly civilized, respectful and peaceful society

Neighbours were helping neighbours and strangers were helping each other. Many warming centres were open up across the city to provide food, water and beds for those who needed them. We did not hear of anyone suffering too much in Toronto's worst ice storm.

We thank God we live in Toronto and we are proud to be a part of this great city!

R.T.
Toronto
December, 2013