Ottawa!

I've just come back from a whirlwind road trip to Ottawa. The newly minted graduate and I hit the road to find him an apartment for the new teaching job at Carleton University which starts this fall.

While there for an intensive two or three days (I'm not sure where to start counting the days), we walked around the neighborhoods to check out the rental availability and the services in the areas (grocery facilities, yoga studios, coffee shops...). thanks to a pair of improbable shoes ( they were new and I needed to break them in), I have the blisters to prove it. Thank goodness for Shoppers Drug Mart and cheap flipflops.

The apartment was found after much competing with other potential tenants. It was lovely to see Ottawa again- I was there two years ago. I am seriously reworking my thoughts about this city. Due to a couple of trips, one in the spring of 1983 when it snowed, another in the spring of 1989 when it was bitterly cold as well, I have not thought of this city with great favor. This trip showed me a different side. The tulips were in bloom, the neighborhoods intriguing, but most importantly, the food was really, really good.


We started with Sri Lankan food on our very first evening there. As we were walking to the second apartment appointment, we spotted it on the street and thought it worthy of a try. We looked through the menu, picked out a couple of dishes and watched the waiter's face contort a bit. We asked if there were better selections to be made and he helpfully suggested an alternative. Thanks to him, we had an excellent meal with a beef kothu rotti dish (a dish made with chopped flat bread stir fried onions, green chilies) and a series of small dishes that included potatoes, lentils, chick peas, green beans, and cabbage. Each had a slightly different taste and spiciness and all were complimented well by the Cobra beer. The waiter even tried to help us with the apartment hunting.




We had other really good experiences for which there are no photographs. While in Ottawa, I was able to satisfy my need for Ethiopian food. We had a lovely dinner of lamb wat and lentils all served on heaps of injera bread. So delicious, we almost overate. There was also a notable all you can eat sushi dinner night. The tempura shrimp roll was the tastiest roll of the evening.



Our parting eating experience with this city was a cup of really good coffee from Bridgehead coffee shop and montreal style bagels, fresh from the wood oven in the Byward market. They were hot, crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside. Not much sound coming from either of us except for the chewing, and the occasional "mmmmm."