It was the last weekend in January when the annual Winterlicious started. Having made reservations early this time around, we were able to book a table at Park Hyatt's Annona Restaurant. It was something I've always wanted to do, and it has been a while since we had gone out for dinner at some place fancy with just the two of us, so I was really excited when the weekend came.
It also turned out to be the coldest weekend this winter yet, which posed the problem of whether to dress up for the occasion and freeze to death, or to forgo the semi-formal little black dress to wear something more reasonable with this weather. It made me wonder: what do people wear to formal occasions in the dead of winter?
In the end, I opted for a purple skirt with a ruffled top in the same color underneath a grey sweater with pink and purple stripes paired with grey stockings. That was the best compromise I could do for looking somewhat presentable while being warm enough at the same time. Meanwhile, we saw girls hopping off a range rover just outside the hotel wearing nothing more than tank tops and mini skirts. I guess they didn't have to deal with the dilemma when there were reporters waiting at the door to photograph them.
Before we went downtown, we stopped by the snowboard blow-out sale advertised on Kijiji. It turned out to be the same place where B picked up his Signal snowboard. Nothing much to see there, in terms of actual gear - there were some boards from Hummingbird and High Society (both of which I've never heard of) and boots of limited sizes. We went on-line and found their websites but there weren't many reviews so we didn't want to risk it. They did have quite a bit of accessories. B and I picked up some wax and a gummy stone (to get rid of rusts) for 5 bucks a piece, and there were insoles for 3 dollars. The insoles were only available in size 12 but fitted into B's new boots just fine after trimming. My backshop boot fitting foam apparently needed to be applied in between the inner shoe and the husk of my boots (?) - while I didn't even know that they could be detached, so I still haven't tried it yet. They also had Burton locks going for 5 bucks each, which is a great deal because the cheapest one we saw in a regular store was 20 dollars. We lingered there for a good hour or more, and by the time we got downtown - St. Lawrence Market was already closed!
I had hoped to visit St. Lawrence Market just because I've never been, and I've heard so much about it - mostly about the foods. And it being downtown, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to check it out because we don't get to go downtown very often. (B hates the traffic and I can't handle driving downtown with all the streetcar tracts and one-way streets and jaywalkers) It had actually just closed when we got there just a bit after 5 PM. The dinner reservation was still 2 hours away, so we decided to find a little coffee shop or something because we've already paid for the parking and it was mighty cold outside.
We found parking just behind the Park Hyatt and didn't have to walk far to get to Annona. The restaurant was busy but the vibe was drab from the decor to the servers. We had to wave down a server to get the menu and some water after being seated for 15 minutes. It didn't take long to decide since there were only so many options in the prix-fixe menu. The smoked salmon on blinis were ordinary, as was the fish and the braised beef ribs. The desserts were better - but all in all, it was decided that it's not a restaurant we would want to visit again, even if it did offer better value than Winterlicious.
In the end, I opted for a purple skirt with a ruffled top in the same color underneath a grey sweater with pink and purple stripes paired with grey stockings. That was the best compromise I could do for looking somewhat presentable while being warm enough at the same time. Meanwhile, we saw girls hopping off a range rover just outside the hotel wearing nothing more than tank tops and mini skirts. I guess they didn't have to deal with the dilemma when there were reporters waiting at the door to photograph them.
Before we went downtown, we stopped by the snowboard blow-out sale advertised on Kijiji. It turned out to be the same place where B picked up his Signal snowboard. Nothing much to see there, in terms of actual gear - there were some boards from Hummingbird and High Society (both of which I've never heard of) and boots of limited sizes. We went on-line and found their websites but there weren't many reviews so we didn't want to risk it. They did have quite a bit of accessories. B and I picked up some wax and a gummy stone (to get rid of rusts) for 5 bucks a piece, and there were insoles for 3 dollars. The insoles were only available in size 12 but fitted into B's new boots just fine after trimming. My backshop boot fitting foam apparently needed to be applied in between the inner shoe and the husk of my boots (?) - while I didn't even know that they could be detached, so I still haven't tried it yet. They also had Burton locks going for 5 bucks each, which is a great deal because the cheapest one we saw in a regular store was 20 dollars. We lingered there for a good hour or more, and by the time we got downtown - St. Lawrence Market was already closed!
I had hoped to visit St. Lawrence Market just because I've never been, and I've heard so much about it - mostly about the foods. And it being downtown, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to check it out because we don't get to go downtown very often. (B hates the traffic and I can't handle driving downtown with all the streetcar tracts and one-way streets and jaywalkers) It had actually just closed when we got there just a bit after 5 PM. The dinner reservation was still 2 hours away, so we decided to find a little coffee shop or something because we've already paid for the parking and it was mighty cold outside.
We found parking just behind the Park Hyatt and didn't have to walk far to get to Annona. The restaurant was busy but the vibe was drab from the decor to the servers. We had to wave down a server to get the menu and some water after being seated for 15 minutes. It didn't take long to decide since there were only so many options in the prix-fixe menu. The smoked salmon on blinis were ordinary, as was the fish and the braised beef ribs. The desserts were better - but all in all, it was decided that it's not a restaurant we would want to visit again, even if it did offer better value than Winterlicious.
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