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Radisson Toronto East

We’ve been going to Toronto annually now for the last 3 years and we love it in Toronto. We stay at Radisson Toronto East primarily due to location. Each time we’ve stayed here, it seems to get better – so that’s a major plus. One thing I noticed this year was the fact there was a guest parking fee now of $8! We never had that on our bill before.

We really like the location of this hotel as it’s just off of Macdonald-Cartier Freeway (Highway of Heros – 401) and Victoria Park Avenue which are main arteries for easy commute. Our family lives in the area East of the hotel, and we’re up at Pacific Mall a lot – so the location is just wonderful.

The hotel itself seems like a typical hotel, and it’s been showing it’s age every year. We’ve noticed slight modifications and effort to update the hotel, but I think it still needs more work.

The customer service at this hotel front desk is wonderful. They’re always very accommodating and they take and respond to comments and concerns I address to them. The room we stayed in this year has been updated from the previous years, and the one thing that stands out more than anything else is the convenient single cup coffee maker in the room and a mini-fridge. I really like this feature in my room, as it was really nice and convenient.

Instead of 1 King bed in our suite this year, we had 2 queens, and both beds had the Sleep Number Bed systems which was easy to adjust for comfort. It was really neat as the smaller queen beds still offered a control for both left and right side of the bed, just as the king beds we stayed in previously.

Overall, the hotel is a clean and comfortable place to stay especially with their newly updates to the hotel. The sleep number bed system makes a wonderful bed to unwind and caters to all guests.

Radisson Toronto East

55 Hallcrown Place
Toronto, ON
(416) 493-7000

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Chateau Deli – Fairmont Lake Louise

Lake Louise is one of my favourite places to visit in any season! When I go in the winter time, my favourite thing to do is grab a hot chocolate with marshmallows from Chateau Deli and just walk around or look at the frozen lake. This year, I went for the Ice Magic Festival which I’ve always wanted to go see. It’s really neat watching talented people make an actual sculpture from blocks of ice.

The deli is almost a cafeteria styled place such that you take/order what you want and then pay at the end. There is a small seating area for you to enjoy your purchased goods, but during special occasions, it’s a little challenging to find a table to sit at and enjoy.

This time, like all others, we ordered our Hot Chocolate with Marshmallows and I never get whipped cream as it’s a little too much dairy for me. The hot chocolate here is really delicious and it’s not like any other location for hot chocolate. Chateau Deli is on my top 5 list for hot chocolate, so be sure to try it out when you’re there!

As this was my lunch, I’ve ordered a soup and sandwich combo, so the sandwich I choose was actually a Smoked Salmon Bagel with cream cheese, red onions and capers.

The soup with the combo, we enjoyed the soup of the day, which was as Cream of Mushroom Soup and it was really good. It actually tasted a lot like the homemade cream of mushroom soups I make! Of course, theirs seems to have something special in there, but it’s comparable. I must say, I like their soup more than mine as I only make cream of mushroom soup once a year.

The last thing we enjoyed for this lunch is a big bowl of Beef Chili which was really hearty filled with lots of ground beef and beans. The flavours was magnificent, and something I would get again if it was available.

Everything is always delicious from Chateau Deli, so no matter what meal or snack, be sure to stop by for something – big or small. The flavours are always really good no matter what you order, and be sure to order your food in a combo as it’s much more economical if you’re having more than just a drink!

Chateau Deli

111 Lake Louise Drive
Lake Louise, AB
(403) 522-3511

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Karma Fine Indian Cuisine – Calgary, Alberta

When the weather is cold outside, and after being what seems to be stuck at home, spice is always something I crave. Whether it’s Thai curry, Indian Curry, Szechuan spices or whatever, I need the heat of the spice! This time, I went for Indian Curry not too far from home off 130th Ave Southeast to Karma Fine Indian Cuisine. The location of Karma is just off Deerfoot Trail and 130th Eastbound – and you turn in towards Canadian Tire and Superstore.

I was going to enjoy a nice hot cup of Chai Tea, but opted out for something a tad different. I had a glass of Mango Lassi which is a very common Indian and Pakistani drink which is yoghurt based (lassi). Basically it’s made of pureed mango, yoghurt and water – and depending on how much water/ice they put it would depend on how thick it is. Sometimes, some places have it so thick that you suck so hard to only get a little drop. The consistency here was really good, as it was thinner than a milkshake, but definitely thicker of a drink. One thing I like about this drink from Karma is the fact they don’t use ice! It never separated which is something I like about my drinks!

This visit to Indian food, I really wanted to try different things, and so, instead of the usual suspect of coconut rice, this time, we got Saffron Rice which looked like a bowl of Christmas rice! It was beautiful! It didn’t have as much flavour on it’s own like coconut rice, but it was very fragrant!

Staying on the different track, I wanted to have lamb with my curry, so we ordered a Lamb Boona which they described as a Karma special made with traditional curry cooked with herbs and spices. This sounded like a wonderful choice as it’s like their “house special” and to me, those are always good! The lamb was really tender, and there were quite a few pieces of lamb in the curry too! We got the curry in mild and you definitely get the kick, but it’s a tender kick.

Now, for the twist on my naan, we normally get the garlic naan (which is fantastic from Karma), we got Keema Nan which is made with white flour bread stuffed with mildly spiced round beef. We normally don’t get the stuffed ones, but since I went to England and tried Indian Edge with their stuffed naan, I had to get it again (at least some version of it!). This was delicious and I would definitely get keema nan again, or other meat stuffed into my nan! Keema naan is just stuffed with some sort of “seasoned ground/minced meat” and varies from location to location, as Keema just means “minced meat”

Then, for my favourite dish of curry for the evening, we ordered a plate of Prawn Korma which obviously had prawns in it, but cooked in a mild curry enriched with cream, nuts and spices.

My overall experience here at Karma was a VERY positive experience, and I have no problems returning or bringing friends & family here who like eating Indian curries! I’m sure when my sister and brother-in-law come and visit me, I’ll take them here for dinner! I’m sure they’ll love it – but it’s definitely not as good as the curry where they are…

Karma Fine Indian Cuisine

4600 130 Ave SE
Calgary, AB
(403) 257-4977

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Cafe Churchill – London, England

It was a cold, rainy London morning in September when we decided to take a walk through the touristy area. When we got towards Westminster Abbey, I realized how hungry I was — and there wasn’t much food options nearby. So, we walked towards the Parliament buildings, we found Cafe Churchill where we quickly popped inside to dry up and fill up on our bellies.

This location was really cute, with little table outside – which I can’t see anyone utilizing in the rain, but probably perfect for the nice days without the rain! Once we walked into the cafe, we saw this pastry display where I got excited! I love pastries!

We both sat down and asked for some English Tea and I wanted mine with lemon. It was so nice to have and anything hot like teas really warmed me up from the inside out! I know it’s just a normal tea, but it was just great timing for this tea.

From entering the cafe, one of the first things I saw was croissants and I noticed a Giant Almond Croissant so I knew that was something I would need to order. The croissant was nice and fresh, crispy layers, subtle sweetness from the powdered sugar, and the sliced almonds made a for a delicious treat!

I thought a croissant for the 2 of us wouldn’t be enough, so we also ordered a Ciabatta Salmone which is a great sandwich of smoked salmon, cream cheese and lettuce on a ciabatta bun. This was a little disappointing compared to the giant almond croissant. This only had 2 thin slices of smoked salmon, and there wasn’t much cream cheese or even lettuce either! The bread was really good as I believe it was fresh. None the less, I ate it up and continued on my journey.

Overall, it was a great experience, and it definitely gave you a small town feel in this cafe! If I’m there, I’d definitely stop by for an almond croissant again though!

Cafe Churchill

Westminster/Millbank
49 Parliament Street, Westminster
London, United Kingdom
(020) 7930 7676

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Planet Dailies at Planet Hollywood – Las Vegas, Nevada

It was American Thanksgiving when we came to Planet Dailies inside Planet Hollywood on the Las Vegas strip. We were originally going to eat at the Spice Market at Planet Hollywood, but they were doing a special “Thanksgiving Dinner” buffet for lunch, which we didn’t want to eat that much – so we settled down here instead.

I ordered a Patty Melt which is a sandwich with marble rye bread filled with an Angus beef patty, sauteed onions and melted Swiss cheese. Of course, I got this with fries, which was nice and crispy on the outside, and tender on the inside. Also, it was served with Thousand Island dressing on the side – which I thought was a little odd, but the tangy taste of the dressing actually was quite refreshing with the sandwich!

As it was Thanksgiving, we ordered a Thanksgiving Lunch Special with slices of Turkey, some fresh vegetables, and mashed potatoes with gravy. It’s kind of your typical Thanksgiving lunch, but it was good! The turkey wasn’t dry at all, and the vegetables was fresh and crispy!

Then, we ordered a pasta dish, and had the Chicken Primavera with tons of tender chicken sauteed with shallots and garlic, tossed with broccoli, yellow squash, zucchini, asparagus, tomato and gemelli pasta. This pasta dish was light enough to be a pasta salad, and it was refreshing!

Planet Dailies at Planet Hollywood was a great place we popped into! It worked out better actually, and the food is great! Our waitress was super cute and so happy that she could make anyone smile – no matter how bad of a day! The food was excellent, service was great and prices was reasonable too!

Planet Dailies

3667 S Las Vegas Blvd
Las Vegas, NV
(702) 732-1222