What I've Been Up To Lately - February 2024

The monthly newsletter is back! Joining a new team and brokerage means there are a lot of new processes that need to be set up, but I’ve sorted most of that all out, and we can get back to the good stuff.

Food I ate

Let's start with the good stuff from the Sunshine State - Miami. While I wouldn't usually talk about a salad, sometimes salads are truly one of the best things on the menu. This one from the Drexel was one that I will remember with fond memories. I love the big leafy greens that you need a fork and knife to cut up, and the dressing had the perfect balance, plus crunchy bread crumbs on top really brought it home.

No stop to the USA isn't complete with a visit to some kind of hamburger spot and this time it's Shake Shack. Give me a malted chocolate milkshake and cheeseburger, and I am very happy girlie.

At home, we love making coffee in our stovetop espresso maker, so when we visit places, we make sure to stop at a few local coffee shops to pick up some beans. This time we made our way to Panther Coffee for a couple of bags of beans and picked up the most perfect iced vanilla latte with homemade vanilla syrup.

Another non-negotiable for me is to eat Mexican food while I'm in the States. This time, we found ourselves at Tacombi, which made their own hot sauces and served them in water bottle-esk bottles, which I loved. We had their Birria tacos, corn esquites, and the carne asada quesadilla. Would 100% go back here on our next visit.

Back in Toronto, I'm having dips for dinner at Tabule on Queen, a delicious meal at Pompette with their beef wellington, the Pad Woonsen Cha-om at Som Tum Jinda, sushi from my FAVOURITE sushi spot SAKE Sushi (which is open until 2 AM every day!), and tried the sour cream cake donut from a brand new classic donut shop that opened up by me called Better Days.

Things I did

We traveled to Miami for a bit of sunshine and stayed at the Esme Hotel which is located about a 5 minute walk off the South Beach. It's a great tiny hotel with a rooftop patio and some great restaurants (See above for the Drexel) on their property, so you don't need to leave the hotel, which is usually a plus for me.

We also went to Baltimore to check out a Ravens game for NYE. I've never been to Baltimore and didn't really know what it was all about, but we had a great time with our visit. Turns out, Baltimore is all about crabs - and I love eating crabs! We checked out L.P. Steamers for some fresh seasoned crabs that they serve with a little wooden hammer. You will get dirty, so do not wear any white lol. The football game was a LOT of fun. I've never been to an NFL game before, and we had the best time. The weather was immaculate; they won the game, and the Ravens made history with the most points during a home game. There were so many touchdowns that they ended up running out of fireworks.

Back in Toronto, I discovered an Italian shop just north of me called Speducci Mercatto. They specialized in, you guessed it - speducchi! But they also have lots of other incredible Italian goodies there, including a WALL of dried sausage. pre-made porchetta, and lots and lots of Italian desserts. It's definitely worth the trip!

I've also been helping with Open Houses for my new team, Brott & Co. We have new listings every week, and they are always some of the most beautiful homes in Toronto.

What I've Read

Toronto Life's - Where to Eat CheapThe best places to fill up for $10 or less

You've heard the joke: if you step outside in Toronto, it costs you $100. And sometimes, it sure does feel like that. So I'm adding all of these spots to my must-try list in the next couple of months, and you should, too. An added bonus is that most of the photos are shot by my good friend Carmen Cheung!

TVO's - The premier was all smiles on housing this week. But the province’s targets are already out of date

There was speculation that the premier announced they were going to have 1.5 million new homes by 2031 and that it wasn't going to be possible for a number of reasons. And there have been some really good starts to projects, but even Ford himself has previously acknowledged that the 1.5 million target is almost certainly out of date. Will we still be able to build enough to help tackle our growing economy? We will keep our eyes on the numbers.

Wirecutter's - Your Fitness Tracker Comes With Lots of Sleep Data. Here’s How to Make It Work for You.

I have started to wear my Apple Watch to bed in the last few months. It started because my dog was waking up in the middle of the night, and I was having problems falling back asleep, so I wanted to know how much time I was spending up at night. And now I'm pretty much addicted to hitting my goal of 8 hours of sleep each night. But if you're looking for ways to learn even more about your sleep habits like, how much light sleep, deep sleep, or REM sleep do you actually need? Click the link above to get all of your answers.

That it for this month. See you in March 👋