Hiro Part II of "Mi aventura en Canadá" is Wednesday night's dinner at Hiro in Toronto. Mrs. Robot, being way more organized, bought a Toronto guidebook and the book recommended Hiro as a good sushi place to check out.
We arrived there with 7:30 reservations (the book said to make them) and the place was empty - which was a bit disconcerting. Actually, there was a couple at the bar, but that was it. The restaurant itself was attractive and the staff was very friendly (Canadians!) so me, Mrs. Robot, and co-worker Mark sat at the bar and ordered their special "omakasi" dinner. The description for the omakasi was all about trusting the chef and the staff to take care of you - we didn't know what we would get nor did we know how much we would pay.
For the next two hours we were served delectable morsel after morsel - it was astounding. White tuna, which I previously didn't care for, I now love. Marinated tuna belly, scallops, crab, octopus.... it goes on and on. Even the sweet shrimp rocked. And Hiro the chef was perfect - friendly, talented, and creative.
The fact that this huge meal was in Canadian dollars didn't hurt either. Hiro rocks. I will be back.
Some happy patrons brought Hiro a 'Hiro sock monkey' as a gift - he was nice enough to pose with it for Mrs. Robot.
Work Canadian Style Thursday was my last day of giving presentations and it went so much better - and not because it was my second day and I knew the material better. The first group we met with were 5 women and they were totally into everything we were talking about and took notes and made suggestions. It was invigorating considering that the day before we had been preaching to groups of guys who were all on the edge of being comatose. On a side note, I want to write letters to all my past teachers and say sorry for ever falling asleep in their classes. There was nothing more frustrating than standing up in front of a bunch of people and realizing that half of them were asleep (yay! Glad I flew all the way to Canada!).
After we stuck co-worker Mark on a plane, Mrs. Robot and I went swimming in the hotel pool and bobbed around in the hot tub. Adina (bless her heart) recommended a Chinese place (Lee's Garden) and we went there for dinner - it was fine (but hard to compete with the evening before).
Friday, we checked out and wandered all over Toronto. So, duh, it's February and we are in Toronto and it's cold. Right. My funny observation is I assumed that Torontonians would be all cool about it, like New Yorkers are about some things. You know, jaded about the cold - I expected a lot of, "you think this is cold - ha, you should have been here...." But everywhere I went people were running around yelling about it being cold, as if it had never been cold before. It was cute.
Canadians are cute as hell.
Valentines day I had this whole goofy, ironic Valentines Day thing planned out. We drove to Niagara Falls and got a room with a wonderful view of the falls and a fireplace. I had snuck in a swanky bottle of bubbly and was feeling quite proud of myself that everything was actually working out. We checked into the room and drooled over the view, and then I laid down on the bed for a second and realized I don't feel that well. For whatever reason, my stomach decided to start rejecting everything I had eaten that day - right then. Romantic evening: screeching stop.
I ordered toast from room service "Yea, just plain wheat bread, toasted - butter and maybe some jelly on the side". Then I laid in bed with the chills and moaned.
