Soupfest

Sorry I have been really slack in posting for the past couple weeks due to trying to find work.  There are other things going on but we will update you shortly when we have more information. 

I did manage to make it out to Soupfest which was cool but I wish there was a way to buy more tickets to try even more of the offerings.  For $10 I got to try 4 sample sizes which was good value but not super.

Here is my pic of the event.

I had to go alone which was a shame as it was difficult to navigate my way to the bread area and also find a good place to sit and eat. 

We went to Toronto two weeks ago to visit friends but prior to that stopped at a grocery store.  RC saw a jar and said "I can't believe they found a way to bottle you!"  Of course I was expecting to see perhaps the World's Greatest Honey or something nice.  This is what I saw instead....

Nice.

Acclamation

It has been a good month of offers on GroupOn for Hamilton food.  A lot of them can even be used towards the alcohol portion of the bill which is cool.  This last weekend we went to Acclamation on James St. North using our $15 gets you $30 coupon.  I had a great burger while Reno Chick went for a steak.  Now normally I would follow that lead on the steak but about a month ago we went to this restaurant and a friend had the burger and it has been on my mind since then. 

This place has a really cool lounge in the basement which I will try to get our couples group to use sometime in the future.  If you are in Hamilton and looking for a good place to eat I would recommend Acclamation.

Yesterday's Lunch and Workout

Yesterday we were in Stoney Creek (just east of Hamilton) and decided to try out an Italian place called "The Express".  It has a funny atmosphere where you feel you are sitting in a banquet hall instead of a restaurant.  Luckily for us (and the other patrons) there was no Karaoke going on during lunch hour.

I ordered a calzone and was shocked at the size of it since it was only $13.

 So I did my best to take out this crazy amount of food for lunch....

But I managed to add to my Hunk by putting most of it down.  Overall a good tasting meal but the location wasn't a cool kind of place to hang out in.

Eating all that good of course got Reno Chick started on us going for a monster walk up the stairs near our house.  Two days ago she got this idea and we ended up walking 6 kms and killing my legs so you know I wasn't excited looking up at the stairs again.

That is 500 stairs of sheer pain to the top but RC was nice and we only went up to the 1/2 way point and back down 2x so we wouldn't have to cross the road.  What a tough way to burn off all those calories that I had today!

My Daily Commute

Choosing where to buy was a monstrous house hunt challenge for us. We ruled out Toronto due to the cost. I really wanted to live in Oakville. This is where I had lived for the past 10 years, my friends and family are there and I know where everything is. Then the idea of Hamilton came up, mostly due to the super cheap housing prices. The one mental obstacle to get over was the commute. I have always worked in Toronto and likely will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. We put a lot of time into the decision and came up with the conclusion that the commute would be manageable.

We live a few minute drive from the Hamilton Go Station where I take the 7:02am train in the morning and I am at my desk by 8:20am. On the way home I either take the 4:30pm train from Toronto (gets me at home by 5:50pm)or the 5:02pm train from Toronto (gets me at home by 6:20pm). It is not the best commuting situation but it is also not the worst. This type of commute would never work for me if I had to drive. After taking the GO Train for the past 13 years I like taking the train and the reliability of the train just can't be beat with any other mode of transportation. I usually either grab a nap, read, catch up on e-mails, do a Sudoku and before I know it I am at my destination. Some people extend their list of things to do on the train much beyond my scope to include personal grooming (makeup, hair combing, nail clipping) and eating…the GO Train offers an interesting culture that is entertaining to watch. The train is clean and comfortable all for a reasonable price which is tax deductible. The same group of regulars takes the train so for the social type it seems like a fun group to chat with. Being on the Lakeshore line is awesome since the train provides all day service. The other fantastic perk is in the morning the trains are waiting at the Hamilton Station so there is no need to wait on the platform for the train to pull up and I always get a seat. There is also the VIA train option which goes from Aldershot station to Toronto in about 34 minutes, definitely something I would like to try at some point and an awesome way to commute if you can afford the extra cost. If one had to take a cab from Toronto to Hamilton (which I have had to do on two occasions from work functions) that seems to run around $120.

Who knows how long this will remain our home base (we will touch on our long-term goals in future posts) but for now the Hamilton to Toronto commute is working out just as planned.

Hamilton: Weird Stuff

Now Hamilton has some really nice homes but this one would be a pain to live close to!  I couldn't get the statue by the street which Reno Chick thought was some garbage but you can just imagine.  I can't wait for this house to really get into the Xmas spirit and fancy up the front yard a bit more.  I will come back with another picture if I get a chance to swing by and look at the place.

Okay now I will get back to work .... have to find that grout cleaner first.

Some pics of our Neighbourhood

We still haven't sorted out the issues with our camera so I thought I would post up some pictures of our neighbourhood. After living in Oakville for the last 10 years it has been a bit of an adjustment to move to Hamilton but so far everything is working out pretty well. Living in a city we can walk to a lot of restaurants and bars and we are very close to the Escarpment trail and the stairs that go up the mountain (a great work out). I really enjoy discovering a new city on foot and seeing the architecture of the older homes and buildings.

Goodbye Apartment Hello House

This weekend we will be moving the rest of our belongings from the apartment to our new house. I secretly love moving, the packing and unpacking always yields stuff that I forgot I had...can't wait to see what treasures have been in storage for over a year.  Moving to a new place gives a new sense of perspective and some fresh energy. I just hope that nothing important gets broken. We have already moved a large portion of our belongings so I expect that we will be done by Saturday afternoon. This way we can check out the Supercrawl which is a art and music event in Hamilton.