You've seen it if you go to the movies. It's the backdrop for most of Chicago and parts of Cinderella Man. Walking the cobblestoned laneways of Toronto's Historic Distillery District is like a journey back in time.
Established in 1832, the Gooderham and Worts distillery grew to become the largest in the British Empire. Known as the most well-preserved collection of Victorian Industrial Architecture in North America, the Distillery District covers 13 acres and is made up of over 40 buildings...
One of the biggest complaints about the neighbourhood was the dearth of good restaurants. Balzac's coffeehouse offered sandwiches and crepes, but the other two restaurants onsite, run by the same management company that runs the entire complex, were overpriced and more than a little pretentious...
Read the rest of: "Mill Street Brew Pub"» 
Forget the Alamo.
San Antonio
is about Mexican food. Specifically: Tex-Mex.
More specifically: the indulgent bliss of the #3 lunch plate special for $4.99 – two cheese enchiladas, one beef taco, refried beans, rice, two flour tortillas and iced tea. Chips and salsa come free.
When friends come to visit
San Antonio, the proud epicenter of Tex-Mex food, it is usually their wish and certainly my duty to introduce them to the local flavors. I promptly direct them away from the River Walk and into one of the older neighborhoods of San Antonio, where the best restaurants are – the ones that serve handmade tortillas with that perfect fluffiness-dusted-with-flour texture.
Read the rest of: "Tex-Mex - Food of the Manteca Gods"» 
Probably one of the most famous bridges in the world, The Brooklyn Bridge totally lives up to its reputation. Many of my friends who have lived in New York for years have never journeyed over it. Tourists from around the world come and walk it, why don't we? So I decided it was my time to do the deed. I took the E to the first stop in Brooklyn, High Street, which is literally next to the entrance to the bridge. In no time, I was approaching the famous lines of cables that support the suspension. Unlike other Manhattan bridges, the pedestrian walkway on the Brooklyn Bridge is in the center, rather than on the sides, providing an expansive view of the city in front of you...
Read the rest of: "Walking Over the Brooklyn Bridge"» 
After spending days lounging around in the sun and surfing on deserted beaches of North Carolina's Outer Banks (OBX if you're nasty), it was time for a change. Luckily, NC is a state that allows you to go from one extreme to the other pretty easily, so long as you manage, unlike me, not to get lost in Dismal Swamp. From the flat expanses of the Outer Banks, and without only a brief pit stop dedicated to the aforementioned getting lost (extended somewhat by the fact that I got caught in the middle of a massive frog migration, which is weird enough on its own and made a whole lot weirder by the fact that this is actually the second time I've been halted in my vehicle by a massive frog migration), I shot due west and straight into the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains to meet up with an old friend and put a feather in my knit cap by hiking the tallest mountain east of the Mississippi: 6,648 foot tall Mount Mitchell.
It was also a grand chance to make one of the most beautiful drives in all of the Americas: the Blue Ridge Parkway in autumn...
Read the rest of: "Mount Mitchell and the Blue Ridge Parkway"» 
In New York City, you're more likely to see a butterfly tattoo than you are an actual butterfly. You'll probably see more flower-selling than flowers growing. Bombarded as New Yorkers are by honking horns, flashing lights, jackhammers, sirens and psychoses, it's important to find some places where you can get away. Where the noise dies down a bit, and the flow of people slows to a comfortable trickle.
Conservatory Garden in Central Park is just that kind of place...
Read the rest of: "Conservatory Garden"» 
The plaster dust from recent renovations has finally settled at Holt Renfrew, arguably the finest department store in Montreal. The store is shinier than ever, and designer clothing and fine perfumes await your every glance. However, if like me your idea of a good time doesn't usually include shopping, then you are in luck - Holt Renfrew is also home to unarguably some of the best in-store dining in the city. In fact, the basement Cafe Holt is a destination in itself, and not just for weary shoppers as I imagined.
Cafe Holt's modern decor is accompanied by a thoroughly modern gourmet menu, which is in turn centered around a very traditional bread....
Read the rest of: "Café Holt"»
I once read a statistic that indicated Torontonians watch more films per capita than the residents of any other city in the world. It's not that we go to first run movies more than most people do, it's that we go to a lot more film festivals.
When someone says the words "Toronto" and "film festival", the natural assumption would be that they're referring to the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), one of the world's most well-respected gatherings of movie folk. While the TIFF is definitely Toronto's biggest and best known, attracting films, celebrities and celebrity-watchers from around the world, it's actually only one of dozens of film festivals that take place in this city throughout the year...
Read the rest of: "Toronto Film Fests and the End of the "Nabes""» 
Rockefeller Center is a symbol of New York. The annual lighting of the giant Christmas tree and the iceskating rink infront of is has come to define Christmas in New York. Home to countless businesses, NBC, Christie's auction house and retail shops, Rockefeller Center IS New York.
Emphasizing this, artist Anish Kapoor designed an installation highlighting this notion. The Sky Mirror, a temporary exhibition, is a giant concave disk made of stainless steel, and placed at the entrance to the Rockefeller Compound on 5th Avenue. The giant mirror reflects the top of the center and the sky, bringing it to the ground on 5th Avenue. The opposite concave side reflects the hustle and bustle of the street. The sculpture, although physical, represents a window or a view, rather than being an object itself.
Kapoor also designed the permanent famous "giant bean", called Cloud Gate at Chicago's Millenium Park. Also made of stainless steel, Cloud Gate warps Chicago's skyline, bringing it closer and framing the viewer.
 If you are anything like me and you live in New York, going grocery shopping is a nightmare. I feel like a loser lugging those old lady carts across town, but decent grocery stores are few and far between. I've actually found myself attempting to create a healthy diet based solely on the inventory of my corner deli. After contemplating buying a pale peach colored tomato, I decided ENOUGH! I need nutrients! I want to remember what real vegetables taste like, and not just some shriveled mass posing as produce...
Read the rest of: "Union Square Market"»
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