Up By North Bay

I went up to North Bay with PM to visit his family, and he took some time to show me around his home up north. My first train ride started at Union Station and it took just about 6 hours in total. PM bought a magazine to read on the way up…I call it porn for foodies…



We watched one and a half movies on his Axim while sitting in the food train. The screen was a bit small to watch with two people, but we managed well with the setup. When the Bluetooth keyboard comes in, it will make it easier to watch because of the cradle. We had to set up a makeshift way to make the Axim stand so that the angle is viewable, and learned that PM has a great way with improvising ways to make the Axim stand up.

We cooked dinner for the family the next evening. We made blanched asparagus with hollandaise sauce, grilled flank stake marinated in garlic, rosemary wet rub, purple potato gnocchi with pesto sauce, flourless chocolate cakes and Longan fruit. I had a fabulous time making that meal, leaning how to make many of the items on the go. Our hollandaise broke while waiting for the other dishes to be ready, so we had to re-make it. It all turned out great and the family ate it all up. I can’t wait to make more food with chef PM. So fun!



One evening, we went down to the waterfront and were really surprised with what I saw. Masses of ice! A few pictures will say a few thousand words actually…

This one has the colours modified, but it looked cool.


Water frozen never looked so good. The water actually frozen into shards of ice in the shape of the tide….



PM, his sister Heather drove me to Sudbury and visited Science North (the Science Centre of Northern Ontario). The building is actually shaped like a snow flake. Kinda neat! The floors connected by a huge ramp provided interesting architecture on the inside.



I even slept on a bed of nails….



A trip to a closed exhibit on a slow day got us into the exhibit for the Segway. Lucky us got to ride it around for many more rounds than the typical public would have gotten.



While in the butterfly sanctuary, Heather and PM was discussing the colours of the beautiful blue butterfly and how it is likely a male because females have duller colours. PM then said “That’s why I am the better looking than you are…” Here’s PM saying it…



We got a ride back half way back to Toronto with a high rolling family friend of PM’s mom. We stopped by Casino Rama and caught a tour bus back to Toronto for $5. I showed PM the joys of playing slots, and he won $125 from a $10 donation to the casino. I lost $30. The high roller friends showed us around and donated some money for us to play on. I lost $70 in about 3 minutes. Slots are fun!