Last Night...

After sundown last night, we spent a few hours wandering around the streets of Toronto, checking out art exhibits scattered throughout the city for Nuit Blanche. I've been looking forward to Nuit Blanche for a few weeks now, and although we saw a few interesting exhibits last night (fire torches activated by movement, interpretive dancers in interpretive costumes, light shows, etc.) and had a good time out and about in the city with good friends, I was a little disappointed in the overall event. I heard that last year's Nuit Blanche was far more entertaining with far more exhibitions and that this year's seemed to be lacking in enthusiasm, so I guess we just hit it at a bad time. But! I'm already feeling hopeful for next year's event. (Come on, Toronto!)

Sadly, the one "exhibit" we were most excited about seeing--the ghost subway station that has been closed to the public for over 40 years (with the exception of last night)--had a line of a few thousand people trailing out of its entrance by the time we found it. 

We had already walked a full 15 kilometers by this point (not even exaggerating), so the prospect of waiting in line on our feet in the icky, wet cold didn't seem like the most logical option at the time. So we opted to head home on the TTC, which in hindsight wasn't entirely logical either, as everyone in the city was feeling particularly festive last night and the number of overly intoxicated individuals on the subway far outweighed the number of non-intoxicated individuals (which isn't even remotely fun to deal with when you're stone cold sober).

Anyway, after bidding the Nuit Blanche madness adieu and upon returning safely to our cozy little abode, I flipped on my computer to search for some durable winter garb. That might seem entirely random, but I had my reasons: According to a digital thermometer on the sign of one of the banks we passed last night, it was 5 degrees celsius while we were traipsing around the city, and my flimsy Korean winter coat held up to its first weather challenge of the year like a champ.  But it occurred to me somewhere between Spadina and Yonge streets that as soon as real winter strikes, I'll probably end up freezing to death if I don't do a winter-wardrobe-upgrade (because--hey--5 degrees celsius isn't that cold and Lord knows come January, 5 degrees is going to feel like August). So, naturally, I turned to Urban Outfitters' website as soon as I got home and instantly fell in love with this coat:

It's cute, eh? But after oohing and ahhing over it, I realized it probably has the same kind of lining as my current coat and will therefore be just as useless for my daily walks to and from work in the midst of a Canadian winter. I then came to the sad realization that something like this one might be more practical:

But I don't want this one. *sigh* Why can't cute and practical work together to keep me alive this winter? I'm open to coat suggestions from those who know rough winters, by the by, so please share your tips if you have them....

And now moving on to salsa (the condiment). We had a few friends over for dinner last night prior to the Nuit Blanche festivities, and since Ken was feeling ill and I was feeling lazy, we opted for an easy-to-prepare menu: chicken tacos and chips and salsa. I decided to make my own salsa, sans a recipe, and I was quite pleased with how it turned out. I'm feeling so confident about it, in fact, that I've decided to share it here!

Green Salsa Recipe 

(the color was a bit of a surprise...)

• 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
• one small yellow onion, peeled and quartered
• one jalapeno pepper, seeded and sliced (if you prefer milder salsa, don't throw in the whole jalapeno)
• one or two handfuls of fresh chopped cilantro (depending on your taste for cilantro)
• the juice of half a lemon
• three large tomatoes, quartered
• salt to taste

Put garlic, onion, and jalapeno pepper into a food processor and pulse it a few times until everything is chopped up. Add the cilantro and lemon juice and pulse again until cilantro leaves are itty bitty. Add the tomatoes and pulse until you're satisfied with the texture (I prefer it a little chunky, but I overdid it and it came out a little runny.... Noted for next time!) Add salt to taste and eat that business! (With tortilla chips, preferably.)

And there you have it. I forgot to take a picture of the finished product, but--as you can see above--I took a picture of a few of the ingredients prior to making the salsa for whatever reason. (I just don't have the mind of a photographer... or even of someone who likes to take pictures, because clearly I don't.)

And that's all I've got! Enjoy this overcast (in Toronto) Sunday afternoon.