Meet "Julie's Snack Bar"

This was my first time trying Cuban food, my friend Maz who' s been there before recommended we go have dinner at Julie's snack bar, the Cuban restaurant at 202 Dovercourt Road, Toronto.. I had to say, I now am a fan of Cuban food.

The atmosphere was wonderful. It was homey and friendly, and it felt like you were in someone's house while the host was cooking your food. I even liked the bathroom downstairs was super cute.

We started off with the tapas. They were all amazing, especially the plantains. We shared couple of entrees and they were extremely flavorful and full of interesting spices (even though we asked for mild versions as I m not a spice fan) and to ended we had to try the Tres Leches dessert which was a bit of disappointment and not as good as the Tres Leches at tried couple of times at a Mexican restaurant..

Julie's snack bar opened in 1954 and used to be a convenience store of sort. She (Julie) eventually even started selling fresh made sandwiches. After Julie passed away, her daughter Syvlia took over. Her and her Cuban husband turned the place into a mini homestead Cuban restaurant.

The place is warm, inviting and ambient. The setting inside with the shelves and the decoration and the different Cuban items are beautiful and super charming..The servers are unbelievably personable.

If you visit Julie's, expect a warm inviting, almost romantic atmosphere. Order a few drinks and a few tapas.. Then you'll have an amazing time and you'll get the charm of Julie's.

Meet "Snowman"

When I started planning a trip to Ottawa to see my uncle and my cousins, they recommended that I book for the first weekend of February as it's the time for the Winterlude festival and all Ottawa celebrates the snow, the ice and all the beautiful side of the winter..

So once in Ottawa, I was excited to see what it's all about, and we agreed to go evening time to the Winterlude outdoor party, check the ice sculptures, dance, and taste the famous beavertail..

It took us more than 25 minutes to find a place to park, but at the end we manage to find a spot really far and do a long walk, where we met couple of my cousins friends and started our tour by checking the wonderful ice sculptures, and hearing the story of how complicated is the process of creating each ice block to make sure it has no air bubbles for the esthetic and to avoid cracks.. Each sculpture was better than the other.. And I thought how bold it is from an artist to put lots of efforts behind a piece of art knowing that eventually it will melt and disappear after couple of weeks, but it's a good lesson as well to know how to let go and don't get attached to material things..

And then it was the time for the beavertail.. We were lucky that the queue wasn't long and managed to get ours quickly.. I got one with chocolate & hazelnut even though everyone recommended to try the original one with powder sugar, but I was happy with my choice and indulged with every bite.

Then it was time to dance and have some fun.. But it was so cold and dancing on the snow for an hour was a bit too much for me.. My whole body was fine except my toes.. So I kept jumping, and moving them maybe they will get warmer but that didn't help much..

I met my friend the snowman, he seemed like the happiest person at the party, dancing and making sounds.. I took a picture with him and we left to go grab couple of drinks to get us warm..

Sometimes, it's nice to meet people without really meeting them but you still feel they make you smile and they spread some positive energy..

Regardless the freezing cold, I enjoyed a lot my first Winterlude experience and promised my cousins to repeat it again next year.

Meet "Chloe"

So far I found people in Canada being friendly and respectful, and meeting Chloe just confirmed that, but she wasn't just friendly, she was funny, and made us feel like we're her guests and she's taking full care of us and engaging with us in a very nice conversation..

I went with my cousins to Bayshore shopping center at 417 & Richmond Road, Ottawa, and after an hour touring there, we felt like having lunch, so my cousin Rania recommended we eat at Moxie's Classic Grill and Chloe was the waitress taking care of our order and our table.. My cousin Riman can't eat anything with heist, sugar or gluten so Chloe helped her and was patient enough explaining every single item on the menu and what she can or can't have or what is good or less good (yes she was that honest).

I told Chloe I'll have the braised ribs burger with caramelized onions and mushrooms and very spontaneously she replied: yeah you're so having it.. It's amazing.. And she was right the burger was so good, and I couldn't wait to start eating, and only at the end I remembered that I forgot to take a picture..

Chloe continued passing every now and then checking if all is going good, and sharing with us a story about her and her husband and her favorite food cooked fresh like the macaroni with cheese and the Pillsbury croissant.. And she ended it by recommending the cheesecake with pecan pie which was super good.

After paying the bill, we thanked Chloe for her super welcoming, warm and spontaneous attitude and hoped to meet her again in my next visit to Ottawa.

Meet "Datcha"

Since I moved to Toronto, my cousins in Ottawa kept asking me to visit for few days, and I was busy settling in and fixing my house and starting the classes, and finally decided to visit for a weekend and they recommended the Winterlude weekend at the beginning of February, so booked my train ticket and was looking forward to see  them after very long time..

First night in Ottawa, my cousins decided to take me clubbing, at Babylon club, where there is a good DJ playing that night, so I took a quick nap and them got ready and we moved around 11pm.. We passed by a pub to pick up Datcha, a friend of my cousins, and just from the short ride to the club, I felt Datcha is so funny and he didn't stop making us laugh with his stories..

And one we reached the club, the queue to get in was huge and we had to wait outside shaking in the cold.. So Datcha decided to go and talk to the security guy and pretended he's the friend of the DJ, and at the beginning the security believed him and we were about to get in but it didn't take long for Datcha's game to get caught and we had to wait for 20 minutes until he knew that a friend of his is already inside and he managed to make us cut through the queue and get in right in time before we were thinking to leave..

Once inside the club, Datcha continued with his funny tricks, where he started blowing balloons and leave them flying between people, it seems he's a character, and my cousins like when they go out with him..

The music was good but some people seemed a bit weirdos for me (maybe I'm getting old), and a funny ridiculous incident happened to me there:

So this short guy came too close to me and asked me if I m Justin, so told him I m not (with his face full of anger).. And after a while he came again and asked me to see my Facebook profile to prove to him that I m not Justin.. Then he was like "swear to God you' re not Justin" So I told him to f... off and here my cousin, to avoid a fight, she swore that I m not Justin and that I don't live in Ottawa.. so he apologized and left us in peace but kept staring at me the whole night with his face full of anger like he wanted to kill me..

And the terror for me was the name... Justin.. Do I look like a Justin? Which Justin? Who's the F... is Justin? And imagine if my real name was Jusitn..

anyway, the night ended well, we had a good time, then I went with my cousins to drop Datcha to his place, and came back home, to get some rest and get ready for another day around Ottawa and meeting other new friends.

Meet "Firas"

Firas is not a new friend that I'm meeting for the first time, but the last time I saw Firas was 8 years ago, when he left Leo Burnett Dubai, and after that he relocated to Cairo and then decided to move with his family to Canada..

And what a pleasure meeting Firas in Tornoto after almost 3 month of my landing, and hearing the story of the journey they went through and how they decided to change career and work closely with his wife after he tried couple of things until he reached exactly what he likes to do and overcome all the fears and doubts he had and many obstacles along the way..

Firas is, as he mentioned it in his Linkedin profile, "A breakthrough coach, a storyteller, strategist, Marketer and speaker".. And I can assure you he's good in every single one..

Chatting with Firas felt like almost a spiritual conversation, he was so zen and talking from the heart..

I shared with him the couple of ideas I have in mind and he gave me his point of you and asked me to listen to my heart, even if this will put me through doubts and sometimes stress and fear and lack of self confidence.. And asked me to forget about the "I should.. I have to.." And put myself as a priority vs what others want and expect from me..

Time passed so quickly and Firas had to head for his training and I left thanking him and kept thinking of our discussion and I was so glad to catch up with him after all these years and hoped we gonna see each other more often from now on.