Food trucks, glorious food trucks

So there's this show on the Food Network that always makes me hungry. Its called Eat St. and essentially, they go around the U.S. and Canada visiting amazing food trucks and profiling their delicacies - everything from Mexican to gourmet chicken wings to vegetarian cuisine, all at a street corner near you.

The food on there always looks so gourmet, so fresh, so different from the ordinary (these 'food truck chefs' seem to always come up with their own sauces, their unique spin on dishes and like to use fresh ingredients.)

All this to say that, aside from ice cream/fry trucks, I don't think I'd ever seen one of the new generation of food trucks - until I moved to Hamilton.

Our first interaction with Hamilton's burgeoning food truck scene was last summer at the Festival of Friends in Ancaster. The newest and most popular kid on the block, Gorilla Cheese, was there (the name of this truck is fantastic). Hubby, of course, had to partake (sadly, I don't eat cheese so I probably won't ever get to taste the delicacy that is Gorilla Cheese, unless they can throw together some lactose-free variety!) Needless to say, he agreed with all of the praise other people had heaped on Gorilla's version of these classic sandwiches.

We then started to notice more and more 'food trucks' around Hamilton - such a noticeable change from Toronto, where I don't think I had even seen one (apart from the aforementioned fry/hotdog/ice cream vans). In Hamilton, we even noticed bakery food trucks parked outside of the mall - I mean, who doesn't want a cupcake when they're shopping on a Saturday morning?!

I know its not exclusively a Hamilton thing, but this city does seem to have more than its share of these delicacies on wheels (as evidenced by the Sew Hungry event that pops up every so often on Ottawa Street - we keep missing out on this one, but apparently, we didn't have to wait for this event to experience a whole crew of food trucks in one spot!)

Essentially, hubby found out via Twitter last week that several food trucks were gathering in a certain spot on the mountain and we got in the car and headed out there. Yes, recently, we went to our first gathering of food trucks and had dinner. A good number of trucks showed up to the event, including one serving Schnitzel, another offering Greek food, a couple of BBQ/Southern trucks and of course, Gorilla Cheese.

We opted to try out one of the newer food trucks - Dirty South. I chose the chicken tacos, while hubby had a pulled pork sandwich - they do have an awesome looking chicken sandwich made with WAFFLES - but neither of us felt we could handle it that day! Anyway, the food was great, the place was packed and it was great to see so many Hamiltonians gathering to try out the tasty local food truck fare for dinner. Other than the cupcake truck (which is so yum!) Dirty South might be my new fave restaurant on wheels.

A few days later, we ran into more food trucks at the Dundas Cactus Festival (which I'll talk about in another post), but if you have a fave local food truck, please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below!

A new perspective

First of all, let me apologize for having been MIA from this blog for a couple of months. Its not that we've given up on exploring Hamilton - far from it! Rest assured, we're still busy eating in all of our favourite restaurants (plus some new ones!) and taking in the best activities Hamilton has to offer - like Art Crawl, the Art Gallery, the trails (which the dog LOVES!) etc...

But while this blog originally started as a means to document a young couple's exploration of our new home and all it has to offer (and also a dog's eye view of the city!) we'll now also be looking for baby and kid-friendly Hamilton events, activities and pastimes. Yes, we're expecting a new little Hamiltonian soon!

True, the little one won't be able to fully appreciate all of Hamilton's uniqueness and excitement for awhile, but its never too early to start researching, right?

From the get-go, I'm really not sure what Hamilton has to offer when it comes to kids activities. I mean, there are the obvious playgrounds, festivals and mommy/baby groups/yoga/swimming (things I'm sure we could find if we lived in Hamilton, Toronto, Waterloo, wherever...) but what about child-friendly pastimes that are unique to the Hamilton area?

Based on some initial quick research, here is what I've found:

1) The Art Gallery of Hamilton seems to have kid-friendly activities for different age groups (summer camps and family fun days). Never too early to start them on a path towards culture and art appreciation, I think!

2) We've driven past the Hamilton Children's Museum many, many times, but I haven't stopped to think about what it might offer, until now. Looks like good times - they've got 'fun day Fridays', some kids' gardening events and the Wiggle Wagon (love it!)

3) Puddicombe Estate Farms (& Winery!): A farm, a little train - 'nuff said, I think.

4) And for when the wee one is a bit older - this place looks like fun, as does this one!

As we look forward to expanding our Hamilton experience from mostly restaurants and events to family fun, I'd be interested in hearing about any great baby or kid-friendly activities that you've found here in The Hammer! Please feel free to mention these in the comments below.

First impressions, continued...

Now that we've been here for more than a year and are immersed in Hamilton on a daily basis , I sometimes forget that initial feeling of shock and surprise that some people (from Toronto, mainly) have when they come to the Hammer (usually for the first time) and discover how nice some of the neighbourhoods are.

Seeing that moment where people file away their preconceived notions of what they thought Hamilton was all about and replace them with visions of how nice the houses are and how great some of the amenities we have here are is pretty gratifying for those of us who chose to move here, enjoy the city and work hard to show people how nice it really is.

Since Christmas, we have had a steady stream of visitors from various parts of Canada, including the Big Smoke, stop by to see our new place, and we always take the opportunity to show off our new city. And we try to show it all - everything from a walk down Locke Street to a drive to the waterfront, up James Street and across Barton Street.

The overwhelming consensus is that no one knew that places like Locke Street and James Street North existed here (in fact, one recent visitor who grew up in Brantford said that he wasn't aware that Hamilton had neighbourhoods like Durand and Kirkendall).

I've discussed, at length, our great Hamilton discoveries over the last few months, but in no particular order, the things that seem to most often seem to turn other people's opinions/prejudices of Hamilton on their heads are:

- how historic the homes are (and how reasonably priced), the gorgeous architecture and the community feel in many of the city's neighbourhoods.

- the calibre of Hamilton's food scene always floors people. We always make a point of taking visitors out to one of the city's unique restaurants (think Bread Bar or Wass or even Rolly Rockets), with one visitor saying she had the best sandwich she had ever had IN HER LIFE at one of these establishments. We know that they are up there with the best that other large cities have to offer.

- Hamilton's cultural scene. Yes, we have an Art Gallery and there are loads of festivals and cultural events in the Hammer all year long. You don't need to drive into Toronto to experience art, concerts, culture and festivals.

More friends from far-off places are sure to be stopping by this summer and I'm sure we will hear many more positive 'first impressions' of our city (and, of course, I'm sure we will continue to find new Hamilton gems and favourite spots ourselves!)

Puppy party in the park

Despite the less-than-stellar weather on recent weekends, we seem to have spent a lot of our time visiting the city’s various dog parks.

Dog parks are an interesting, and very welcome concept for me. Growing up ‘x’ number of years ago, there was no such place to take our family dog (that I remember).

Back in the lawless old days, dogs could be let off-leash in the local park or conservation area, much to the chagrin of non-dog lovers also enjoying the space (and the risk of the dog doing a runner!) Of course, leash-free activity in public spaces is no longer allowed, but we, luckily, now have these dog-exclusive spaces to take our pooches to.

For the residents of urban environments like downtown Hamilton, these free-run areas are invaluable. With postage-stamp backyards or even no yards, the dogs clearly relish a place to run, sniff and play with reckless abandon.

The ‘pet-iquette’ of the dog park is interesting to watch. Owners usually stand around the perimeter, coffee in hand, watching their pets enjoying themselves. Dogs must be well-behaved and friendly. Poop MUST be picked up. You must keep an eye on your pooch at all times and be ready to put a stop any ‘unsavoury’ behaviour.

The first Hamilton dog park we visited was “Cinema Park” in Ancaster, on a foggy day not long after the holidays. While this park is located in the heart of ‘big box’ store land, I have to admit that, because of the weather that day, we may as well have been in the middle of nowhere. Being our first dog park experience (and as our girl was still quite little), we kept her on-leash, but let her socialize with the passing dogs. This park is massive and a repeat trip is definitely in the cards.

Hill Street dog park is one of my pup’s faves, because of the amount of fraternizing she can do there (it’s a very popular puppy park!), and the mess she can get into. When the snow melts and after the rain, this park is a mud pit (although the city does make an effort by putting some straw down). At the same time, the sheer joy on her face as she runs with her newly formed pack makes the post-park cleanup time worth it.

Most recently, we checked out the city’s newest dog park in the north end of Hamilton. To say the weather was ‘foul’ the day we visited this park would be an understatement. The high winds were compounded by the fact that Birch Avenue dog park is on the top of a hill. Saying that – no mud! And, someone had the good sense to put in bus shelters in the dog park, so pup owners could shield themselves from the elements, while the dogs do their thing.

I hear there’s a dog-only beach somewhere out past Stoney Creek. My girl’s a water fiend. We’ll definitely be checking this out when the temps rise.

Musings on Augusta Street

As I’ve already shared my thoughts on our Hess Village patio experience of last summer (unique, I think, because all the students had left already), I thought it was high time I posted a few musings on another of Hamilton’s bar-filled streets – the (very different) Augusta Street.

Since starting our Hamilton-related exploits a year ago, hubby, myself and friends have visited the pubs on Augusta Street a number of times – for drinks, eats and festivals.

The first was on a blustery late winter/early spring evening last year, when, on a whim, we decided to check out the Augusta Street scene. At the time, various Hamiltonians had mentioned the street to us as a place we should visit, so we scanned the various pub names as we walked along Augusta, chose the Winking Judge and went in.

Two things struck us: 1) they have a fantastic craft beer selection, which was something we had enjoyed in Toronto and had missed up until that point in Hamilton (as an interesting aside, they also have a ‘wall of fame’ of people that have tried ALL their craft beers. Hubby was intrigued).

and 2) the pub (and the street) have that ‘grad school’ feel to them – ie: no Hess Village-partying undergrads here. Who knows – maybe they do party there, but there was not one to be seen that night.

Since then, we have visited the street several times, had a beer on The Ship patio, checked out the Augusta Block Party (chili cook-off!) last August on the street - impressive, because of the sheer amount of people and the fact that they managed to fit a stage and live bands on Augusta Street - and listened to music at The Augusta House (another bar in an old Victorian house, but with a slightly different vibe than the others, as it’s a ‘gastro pub’ – ie: with a more extensive menu than some others, I would assume.)

This seems to be a theme in this neighbourhood – packing a lot of people and great music into relatively small spaces.

For example, we’ve been to the Winking Judge a couple of times since that first visit and I always wonder how they manage to squeeze live music into that pub, given that its in a narrow Victorian house (but they do!).

These pubs also haven’t been renovated to the point where the features of the original Victorian homes have been completely masked – I have often wondered who lived there back in the day, what the street was like, etc….the stuff of an archive search at some point of the future.

I still haven’t visited the interestingly-named Pheasant Plucker on Augusta. I’m sure that’s in the cards soon.

One year later….

Well – its official. It has been one year since we packed up our place in T.O. and drove down the 403 to settle in Hamilton.

Does this mean we’re no longer newbies here?

I don’t think so. Sure – I know a lot more about the ins and outs of Hamilton than I did 12 months ago, but there is still a lot to learn…

I started this blog with the goal of documenting our travels as we explored our new home – everything from restaurants to tourist attractions and day-to-day Hamilton experiences.

Ultimately, we didn’t want to be hermits in our new town. So we made a point of seeing and experiencing everything we could.

In the last year, this has included, but is not limited to: skating, Dundurn Castle, the farmer’s market, trails, art crawls, the art gallery, Dundas, Ancaster, Ottawa Street, Locke Street, the waterfront, Supercrawls, festivals galore, Legions, Tweet ups and parties, rock climbing (and of course, the dog parks.)

We also found great Ethiopian food, BBQ restaurants, Japanese restaurants, coffee pubs, regular pubs and more. We’ve met loads of awesome people – some that grew up in Hamilton, others that are newbies like us – all intent on enjoying this city and making it the best it can be.

And to top it all off, we literally became invested in Hamilton.

We haven’t seen it all. Not by a long shot. Hamilton is a smaller city, sure. And after a year of serious exploring, we’ve scratched the surface. We’re comfortable – we know where to go for groceries, a beer, a fun Friday night, or to get out into nature for an afternoon.

But there’s more. For instance, I learned the first week we were here that Hamilton is a city of waterfalls. I will sheepishly admit that I haven’t yet gone to see one of these. Definitely on the list for 2012.

There are loads of great restaurants that we’ve yet to try out – in all corners of the city. There are more trails to discover, some festivals to attend that we didn’t make it to in 2011.

In short, it has been an eventful and busy first year for us in Hamilton. Much like the city itself, we’ve had good times and bad. But our quest to find the best that Hamilton has to offer is far from over. It seems we’re here for the long haul.

Skating, mild winter-style

Given the kind of winter we’ve been having here in Hamilton, it’s a wonder our trip to the outdoor skating rink at Pier 8 happened at all.

So far, the winter has gone something like this: thaw, thaw, thaw, FREEZE, quickly thaw….with a little bit of snow and rain mixed in for good measure. No complaints here re: the mild January, with the exception of our dog tracking mud all through the house every time that ‘freeze’ turns to ‘thaw’.

But this post isn’t really about how refreshing it is not to have -30 temperatures every day for a month, but rather celebrating one of the activities that comes along with winter, and getting to know Hamilton a bit better at the same time.

One evening in early January, we were invited to join a couple of friends for a fun-filled evening of skating down at the waterfront, followed by Williams Fresh Café for coffee, beer, whatever.

With not even a grain of hesitancy from the non-skater in our family (my husband), we decided with enthusiasm that we would give it a go! That’s not to say that I’m very good – I stopped taking skating lessons when I was eight and have been probably twice in the last ten years. Saying that, it’s a skill that quickly comes back after a few spins round the rink.

We were looking forward to this for many reasons. 1) while we’ve been to the waterfront area many times, we’d never tried out the ice rink, 2) if there was any time to try it out, a January night where the temperature was above freezing was probably it, and 3) skating is an awesome workout.

Another plus – you don’t need your own skates to be able to enjoy the waterfront rink. Rentals are available for $4.00 a pair – and of course, its free to skate.

We weren’t really sure what kind of crowd to expect at the skating rink at Pier 8 (ie: whether they are all superstar skaters or all under 20). Sure, there were a good number of skaters that might fall under either of those categories, but there were also families teaching their little kids to skate, and tons of people our age, either out skating with friends or with their significant other. All abilities were there as well – definitely not an intimidating rink for those who are a bit rusty, or are learning for the first time.

Time flies at the rink…before you know it, you’ve been ‘working out’ (technically) for hours, while laughing, having fun and listening to music.

We were also surprised that, while there was a decent crowd there, it wasn’t Nathan Phillips Square-crowded…those who have skated in Toronto know what I mean. (This is an ongoing theme I have noticed in Hamilton – everything that you normally have to battle crowds or wait in line for in the Big Smoke, you can do in Hamilton without having to experience any of that.)

Ironically, perhaps the only downside to our skating excursion was the temperature itself. While spending time outside is undoubtedly easier when the temperatures are hovering around zero, or a couple of degrees below, on this night, the mild air was clearly not good for the skating rink.

There were quite a few slushy, wet patches developing on the ice that night – good, perhaps, if you need to slow down. But for those that took a tumble (not any of us, fortunately!), yuck.

Hamilton on the cheap (aka: the post-xmas credit card bills are in!)

So, the holiday season has come and gone, bills are begging to be paid off and any budget for doing ‘fun’ things in January was spent before the New Year was even rung in.

But the post-December credit card blues are no excuse for sitting around the house, right?

We still want to get out and see more of Hamilton!

Given 1) the post-Christmas come-down and 2) the frigid temperatures, I’ve found myself contemplating our options for having fun on the cheap in Hamilton, while staying inside (if possible).

Here is a little list of potential/cheap activities I’ve compiled (skewed to my interests, I'll admit, but cheap nonetheless):

Art Gallery of Hamilton: Granted, the AGH isn’t always free. Thankfully, we became members last spring, so for the time being, it is for us. If you’re not an AGH member, there are tons of events at the gallery this winter, some free and some with a minimal cost, such as film nights (including a few flicks that screened at TIFF last fall). Here's their 'calendar of events'.

For example, Friday, February 3 from 4-8pm, the AGH has its “First Fridays”, allowing the public the chance to enjoy its Gallery Level One exhibitions at no charge.

Art Crawl: Continuing on the art theme for a second, and deviating a bit from my ‘staying inside’ idea (you DO have to get from one gallery to the other by going outside!) the James Street North Art Crawl is an enjoyable and low-cost way to spend a Friday night in Hamilton, and a chance to get out and see some of the wonderful artistic talent this city has to offer (and maybe have a glass of wine). Check it out on the second Friday of every month – for your winter schedule planning purposes, that would be January 13 and February 10.

Rec centres: I’ll admit, I sometimes forget about the benefits/value of the rec centre, as I’m WELL past the age of taking swimming lessons, etc… True, it’s a great place to take a family for a day of cheap swimming or skating, but its not just for the kids – lane swim, for example, is just a few dollars per visit.

I also see that on Family Day (Feb. 20 this year), there are a number of free activities at many rec centres across the city.

Skating: Okay, so this one isn’t inside. But this is Canada, so we might as well get out and enjoy some of what winter has to offer, right? Lucky for us, Hamilton has a great little outdoor skating rink at Pier 8, which is free of charge if you have your own skates. If not, there’s a nominal fee to rent a pair ($4). Afterwards, Williams Fresh Café is RIGHT THERE – so having a little hot chocolate afterwards is probably in the cards (ie: necessary). We took advantage of a mild evening recently to try the rink out, and it was tons of fun (dedicated skating blog post coming soon!)

Other possible options for cheap Hamilton activities (some of which involve being out in the cold) include: walking one of the MANY trails in the Hamilton area (especially great if the weather isn’t -30), visiting the Farmer’s Market or Dundurn Castle ($11 per person admission, including the Hamilton Military Museum),

I’m sure there are loads more cheap and cheerful activities afoot in Hamilton this winter. As a relative newbie, I know there are inevitably a ton of fun pastimes that have slipped under my radar. Please feel free to add your suggestions in the comments below!

Cheers to January :)

Spectacular, Christmas Spectacular

UPDATE: So, remember how I was looking for the perfect holiday event to get in the Christmas mood? Last week, I found it.

After hearing all of the hype about this event on social media, hubby and I decided to buy tickets to Kitestring creative branding studio Christmas Spectacular event.

Now, we’ve been to a couple of events run by the Kitestring crew before, and they are a fun, ebullient bunch. We always have a good time and needless to say, we had high hopes for this event.

It didn’t disappoint.

So what made it so great?

In my post-party analysis, I came to the conclusion that this particular event ended up being the perfect blend of what many people are looking for this time of year, namely: 1) fun (including good food and drink) 2) giving back and 3) supporting local business.

First of all, it was held at the beautiful, grand old Hamilton Conservatory for the Arts building on James Street South. I had never been inside this building before (truth be told, I didn’t even know it was there until I spied it while walking to the GO station one day earlier this month).

Once inside, we were greeted with comfort food a-go-go – I’m talking Red Hill coffee bar, candy bar and Cake & Loaf COOKIES AND MILK bar (hubby’s fave). All hopped up on sugar and caffeine, we headed to the Christmas Pageant part of the evening’s event.

Yes, this was not a typical mix and mingle/drinks and hors d’oeuvres holiday party – the centrepiece of the event was a Christmas Pageant in the Conservatory’s theatre.

As the show went on, I mentioned to hubby that it felt like we were at a school Christmas play (in a good way) – we were entertained by local professional performers, young and old, with fabulous voices, dancing skills or musical talents (with one of our faves being blues guitarist Rita Chiarelli).

While we thoroughly enjoyed the pageantry part of the evening, the after party was where the event seemed to truly shine.

The Conservatory houses a fantastic loft space, complete with outdoor, rooftop patio (a little chilly at this time of year, but I got the picture.) A live rockabilly band was playing, party-goers were lined up to taste the alcoholic snowcones and a snack table that took me back to birthday party days (think chips, cupcakes & little sandwiches). Essentially, we were surrounded by food, drink, music and new friends. What more could you ask for from a Christmas party?

To top it all off, the event was for the greater good – each ticket paid for one month of after school arts programming with Culture for Kids in the Arts.

I could go on and on about this event, but you get the jist. If you get the chance next year, make sure you go!

Holidays in the Hammer

“Silver Bells, Silver Bells, its Christmastime in the city”

Holidays in the city: for me, this evokes thoughts of lights, shopping, trees and general merriment.

Well, normally, yes. But here we are – it’s our first holiday season in Hamilton, and I need to know what’s going on! I’m floundering a bit with respect to finding all of my usual holiday comforts (and its not just because there’s no snow!)

I’ll chalk it up to being one of the hazards of moving to a new city. Where we used to live, I knew all about 1) the Christmas parade 2) where the best lights were 3) best/most festive/most convenient shopping destinations.

Being a big fan of all the things that come along with this time of year, I’ve been pretty eager to discover what sorts of festive things are on offer in this new city of ours.

So, obviously, I took to the internet.

A quick Google search yielded these suggestions from Tourism Hamilton.

Oops, it appears we missed the tree lighting! But, I did pass by Gore Park the other day, and in addition to the monster Christmas Tree, they’ve got a great little nativity scene set up.

We also checked out one of the lower city's beautiful 100+ year-old churches the other night for a carol service, which did the job of getting us in the Christmas spirit.

More holiday events are listed here.

Part of me realizes it will take a few years to get up to par on all of the seasonal goings-on here in Hamilton. In the days leading up to Dec.25, I’ll be doing my best to find more festive activities. In the meantime, I’d love to hear some of your fave holiday traditions in The Hammer!

Hanging out with the Veterans

I have to admit, I didn’t know much about the Legion before we visited our local branch in Toronto a couple of years back.

But when my hubby (who served in the military in his late teens and early 20s) decided that it was something he’d like to join, I was on board. I was curious to find out what this Legion thing was all about.

With initial expectations of it being a social club for older Veterans (which is still partly true, but that’s a whole other issue), and the home of cheap beer (also still pretty true), I was surprised with how our Legion experience turned out.

Sure, initially (before they gave it a facelift last year) it reminded me a lot of my parents’ basement, circa 1985 (aka: a lot of wood panelling), but there was a warm, homey feel - the people at the Legion embraced us right from the get-go, encouraged us to get involved and visit often. That particular Legion branch ended up being a go-to place for socializing on random weekday nights and a must-visit on more ceremonial special occasions (like Remembrance Day or Canada Day). It was a laid-back place for my hubby to chat about military service with older Veterans, play pool or watch sports.

It’s a membership he decided to continue in Hamilton, even though we had been particularly fond of the branch and members in Toronto. This past Remembrance Day, hubby and I headed over to our local Legion branch to commemorate with other Veterans. We’d been there once before when we first moved to Hamilton and were pleasantly surprised by how active this particular branch is.

On Remembrance Day, the Legion was hopping, as we expected it would be. Veterans and other supporters were busy chatting and sharing memories (and yes, there was also Karaoke!). It was wonderful to see the older Veterans with their medals on full display, wearing their finest. Hubby decided that night that this was to be his new Legion branch.

While we are definitely still at the low end of the age range when we visit the Legion, here’s hoping we can start a new trend, with more Vets of my hubby’s era, their families and supporters getting involved as time goes on.

Happy trails to us

On a recent weekend, we found ourselves in the midst of a rare warm and sunny day (for this fall anyway!) and decided to head into Westdale to grab a coffee and take the dog for a spin around the neighbourhood.

We, admittedly, aren’t too familiar with the ins and outs of Westdale, apart from King Street West, and vaguely remembered there being some parkland in behind the houses, so we headed due north with our coffees in hand and the puppy in tow.

A block or two up from the coffee shop, we came upon a large field to the right, and a park straight ahead. Then a trail marker caught our eyes.

It was the Royal Botanical Gardens’ “Ravine Road Trail”.

In spite of all of my Hamilton travels, explorations and research, I have to admit I didn’t really know the extent of the RBG's series of trails.

Of course, we had to check it out. So, in we went.

All of a sudden, we were out of Hamilton, and in the middle of a beautiful, forested trail. The leaves were changing colour, people were walking dogs, it was quiet and peaceful and it smelled like fall. It was perfect.

As previously mentioned, we checked out the Rail Trail over the summer, and while we enjoyed it, the RBG trails were beyond our expectations. Where the Rail Trail (at least the part we were in) was largely open to the elements (on that particular day, the sun beating down on us), the trail behind Westdale is shaded, leafy, and in some parts, it seems you can walk for miles without running into a single soul.

The best part is, this trail network is huge – so huge, in fact, that we didn’t know how long it would take us to get back to our starting point if we continued on the trail. (With a young dog, this is a serious consideration. We didn’t want to have to carry her back!) It’s a real pity we didn’t have a map with us, because we ended up turning around just to be safe. Who knows what we missed out on further down the trail!

Needless to say, there is a lot more exploring for us to do here in future.

I love when you’re expecting a certain thing and what you end up getting exceeds all expectations. That was this trail for us. It was so far beyond what we were hoping to find that afternoon, and the dog adored it. It made our Saturday.

Doggies in The Hammer

I’ll admit, the pace of our “Hamilton exploration” has slowed recently, and no, its not because we’ve seen it all or that we've powered through our 'must-see' list already.

We’ve got a new family member of the four-legged variety, who is keeping us close to home and exploring the four corners of the backyard and every leaf and stick in the neighbourhood.

As a result, my newest obsession is finding out how “dog friendly” Hamilton is - looking for places around the city that we’ll be able to take our pup when she gets older - to run, exercise, socialize with other dogs and have fun.

There are the obvious places we can go in the car – pet stores, the cottage, etc. But as residents of an urban neighbourhood, what we are really looking for is walkability when it comes to activities – namely, dog parks and nice walks around our immediate area.

I read this article on OpenFile Hamilton (a site that I write for quite often), which reported on a new dog park in the North end of the city, but raised the issue of the lack of dog parks in general, in Hamilton's core.

According to the city, these are our options. While one isn’t too far from where we live, I was initially surprised that a city as large as Hamilton doesn’t have more dog parks and off-leash areas available.

It seems as though the subject of dog parks comes up often in the city, with new ones seemingly springing up every once in awhile. Of course, I’d like to see more (in various corners of the city – because, like her parents, my dog likes to explore new places from time to time!)

I know from my days in Toronto that this can be a long and arduous process in some neighbourhoods (just finding the space can be difficult). Anyway, in the meantime, we’ll soon be taking her to each one, so she (and her human parents) can acquaint ourselves with the canine side of Hamilton.

If you know of any other great dog friendly spots in the city, please share!

Super Duper Saturday

It was called Super Saturday, Superb Saturday – and one person even called it Hamilton’s Christmas – Saturday September 10: the day when the Supercrawl and the Locke Street Festival converged on downtown, bringing thousands of Hamiltonians and tourists out to experience the best of the core.

Like good downtown residents, hubby and I hit up both of these extravaganzas on Saturday, starting with the Locke Street Festival. First impressions: I’ve never seen so many people on Locke Street. I mean, it was crowded, packed and hopping – and that was at noon (ie: when it had just started).

Every store on the street had set up a booth outside, selling their various wares, which means – you guessed it – there were tons of amazing food options on offer.

We each opted for something on Locke Street we’d never tried before (I was surprised that there was something we haven’t yet tried, but it was true). I had a hotdog from Beach Road, and hubby tried the NaRoma pizza. Both were tasty and fulfilled their objectives (ie: we’ll likely be making return trips to these establishments in the future).

We loved the festival vibe on Locke Street – live music, a patio at West Town, cupcakes galore – it had the feel of any street party we’d been to in Toronto or London – but somehow better and more community-focused.

After savouring the best of Locke Street, we headed home to recharge and get out of the sun for a bit, then ventured out to James Street North for the much-anticipated and talked about Supercrawl.

I had heard about Supercrawl for what seemed like months. When we moved here, nearly everyone mentioned that we should visit the Art Crawl, but that in September, there was the mother-of-all art crawls that couldn’t possibly be missed.

Well, with all the hype on Twitter and in the community in general ahead of Supercrawl, we couldn’t possibly miss it. We got there, and it was like the art crawl on steroids. The art crawl and so much more. There were street vendors everywhere, huge grandstands with music blaring, the usual galleries open for a browse around, yummy food options – it was fabulous. About the only thing James St. N. was missing that Locke Street had (or maybe I missed it) was a patio right on the street somewhere, so people could have a drink and enjoy the bands.

What a stellar weekend to be a HamOnt-ian! Can't wait to enjoy more.

The End of Summer (or Hamilton's endless summer?)

In Toronto, the “universally” accepted definition of the end of summer is the arrival of the CNE – the Ex. Personally, the Ex has never really been a part of my end of summer traditions (ie: I’ve obviously been, but its not a tradition), but without fail, when it comes to town, talk of school starting and the arrival of fall are not far behind.

This led me to wonder about the equivalent “end of summer” sign in Hamilton. What I do know is that Hamilton had a ton of summer festivals, and we managed to make it to a great deal of them, as mentioned in previous posts – Its Your Festival, Festival of Friends, BuskerFest and most recently, the Augusta Block Party (awesome chili cook-off!) and the Winona Peach Festival (which, as an aside, was much bigger than we thought it would be!)

My conclusion is that Hamilton doesn’t really have an end of summer tradition (not that I’m aware of anyway), but the party seems to continue into fall, with exciting events like the Locke Street Festival and the James Street North Supercrawl to look forward to in the next couple of weeks, along with all of the usual pumpkin and apple-related events that fall seems to bring. I’m particularly interested to see how James Street North hosts such a large event, with concerts and the like.

Looking forward to our first autumn in The Hammer! If you know of any other great end of summer or early fall events that we should check out, please let me know!

Festival of Friends and a very Hamilton weekend

Here we are, at the end of a VERY Hamiltonian weekend.

I have to admit that the original plan this weekend was to head into Toronto. Since Ontario Place announced that they would have free admission all summer long, we have been trying to make time to go (its one of my favourite childhood places, and I wanted to check it out again) and decided we would try this weekend.

It didn't happen.

Leading up to Friday, we were constantly hearing about the "Festival of Friends" and how wonderful it is. One person on Twitter called it "the essence of Hamilton"...with a description like that, we decided we had no choice but to check it out. I was also intrigued by the name "Festival of Friends"...as an aside, early on in our Hamilton experience, I observed that all of the festivals in Hamilton have very interesting names (case in point: "It's Your Festival"...)

After some serious navigating on Saturday afternoon, we found Ancaster Fairgrounds, parked in the field for $6 (pretty reasonable, compared to what you'd be charged in the T-dot for a similar event) and headed into the festival for FREE.

It was pretty much what you'd expect - lots of food, vendors, a carnival, and of course, music.

What made it unique though, was the Hamilton-ness of it all...by this, I mean that a lot of the vendors were local companies I recognized from Twitter (Gorilla Cheese and Cupcake Diner, for example), which gave us the opportunity to try a variety of awesome local eats. We were also able to buy some local decorative-type items for our new place.

Eventually, we settled down with a beer in the fenced-in beer garden (a concept I think is pretty silly, but that's for another time...) and listened to the afternoon band playing on the main stage. While we didn't see any "friends" at this festival, it was great to be able to enjoy some Hamilton-specific summer activities.

As a result of fortunate timing (a complete fluke, really!) we managed to get out of there before the massive rainstorm came down, and I imagine everyone would have been crowding into the craft vendor buildings...

I hear that this festival used to be held in Gage Park...I can't even imagine what that would have done to traffic in the area, given how many people were at Ancaster Fairgrounds on Saturday. Hubby thinks Hamilton should try to get the Festival of Friends back to Gage Park, as long as there's enough transit available to take people there. At the moment, I think Ancaster Fairgrounds is probably the right place for it -basically, there's more parking, although I'm sure that more transit from various parts of town to this festival (in the middle of nowhere) would be welcome.

Anyway, I conclude that: Festival of Friends + mucho eating out in Hamilton + working on our Hamilton house = we're officially Hamiltonians now :)

More culinary adventures in The Hammer

To be honest, the trials, tribulations and general craziness involved with moving house have monopolized my time in recent weeks (specifically, my time for having fun and blogging).

Something else that moving has resulted in, however, is the chance to try new restaurants (sometimes after painting or putting stuff away, cooking is the last thing we want to do!)

I'm not saying you have to move to a new house or new city to get excited about discovering different restaurants (we were still exploring new places in Toronto after nearly five years), but in Hamilton, we have had a blank slate with no preconceived ideas about what's good, new or the latest 'cool' place to eat. We've been relying on online reviews as well as recommendations from people we know.

As I've said before, I'm no restaurant reviewer. But as someone who enjoys discovering new gems, here are a few places we've been to recently that merit a return visit!

Having never tried Ethiopian food before, I honestly didn't know what kinds of flavours and foods to expect when my husband suggested we try Wass Ethiopian on James Street South one night, after he saw it mentioned on Twitter. I was super intrigued and excited to try it out.

We visited Wass on a random weeknight and instantly felt welcomed and comfortable. The restaurant is unassuming, but the food is an awesome adventure. We ordered one of the combination platters (meat and vegetarian dishes) and dug in with our hands. The flavours were fantastic.

Given that we went to Wass in the evening (and if I drink coffee after 7pm I don't sleep!) we didn't get to partake in the famous Ethiopian coffee that night. This alone means we'll be making a return trip, but rest assured, we'll be going back for the food too!!

In Toronto, we were blessed to have lived in a neighbourhood with THREE awesome Indian restaurants. Since we moved to Hamilton last winter, we had been on the hunt for something comparable.

After craving it one night, we did a quick internet search and noticed some particularly great reviews for The Flavour of Himalaya on King William Street downtown.

We decided to go for it, and ended up having a fabulous Indian meal for less than $30 for the two of us (and hubby even got a beer.) Incredible.

While we've found these great restaurants which may become Hamilton faves, we're still on the hunt for an awesome wine bar or bistro-type place. (And as always, are always keeping our eyes peeled for more of our faves: sushi restaurants or BBQ places).

Any and all suggestions and reviews are welcome :)

Hamilton's history and my old house

For someone who grew up in the suburbs where most buildings dated from the 1970s or later, my recent move into a 100-year old Hamilton house has proved to be both exciting and daunting.

On the one hand, the house needs work, as most 100-year old houses do (and I’m sure this will never end!).

But my fascination for history and interesting stories has had me champing at the bit, since before we moved in, to find out more about this place – who built it? Who has lived here over the past century and what did they do for a living?

Essentially, I’m excited to discover more about Hamilton’s own history through my old house.

While we do have plans to research the house’s past properly through the city’s records, a quick walk around the place provides some evidence of the house’s (and Hamilton’s) evolution – a bricked-up old door to where we think the "service entrance" to the kitchen used to be, a conversion into apartments at some point, various additions and removals and now, big plans to eventually convert it back to its former glory.

Over the years, I’ve heard stories of people unearthing treasures and random artefacts from days gone by when fixing up houses like this. I was excited to start our exploration and see what we could find.

Fortunately, we didn’t have to renovate anything to get the first clues into the history of our house. This started on the day we moved in. Tucked up between some pipes in the basement, my husband found a little book on the history of the British Royal family, ending at King George VI and praising the power of radio communication for its impact and ability to broadcast the King’s Coronation ceremony around the globe. The book’s publication date was 1937 and it was perfectly preserved.

One day later, he was putting more things away in the basement and came across something even older – the top of a wooden crate, with someone’s army rank, name and our address stencilled on it. I knew it was ancient – the postal code was a different format than we’re used to.

As any amateur history buff might do, I instantly Googled the man’s name. It turns out he served in World War I – likely the first owner of this house, or their son. I find it absolutely fascinating that, through a century’s worth of owners, renters and renovations, these pieces of history have survived intact in our house.

I’m hoping these are just the first of many clues into our property’s past, and that we get a few more glimpses into early 20th century Hamiltonian life.

Have you found any interesting relics from the past in your old Hamilton house or apartment?

This post was originally published on OpenFile Hamilton's website.

Moving from the east to the west....

This post originally appeared on OpenFile Hamilton, but I thought I'd repost it here as well - please let me know your thoughts.

This is it – this is the month that this former Torontonian officially became invested in Hamilton.

Since we arrived here in the winter, my husband and I have made it our goal to get to know our new home by becoming ingrained in the Hamilton culture in small ways. We joined the Art Gallery of Hamilton, a gym and go to as many events, festivals and restaurants as possible, trying to get a sense of what the city has to offer, and find our new favourite spots.

By invested, however, I mean that after six months or so of living, learning and experiencing Hamilton, I have now taken the plunge and become a property owner in the city.

When we moved to Hamilton from Toronto, we didn’t know much about the city, and needed to find a place to live pretty quickly. After looking at a few rental places, we settled on an apartment in the east end, not far from Gage Park, in a neighbourhood called Delta West.

Notwithstanding the fact that it was January, our first impression was that the area had a nice neighbourhood feel to it, there seemed to be a lot of pride of ownership and the neighbours were quick to say hello, and even help push our car out of a snowbank or two.

This part of town definitely has a lot going for it. Gage Park is a gorgeous green space, Ottawa Street and the new Centre Mall are not too far away and a lot of families have settled here.

Very quickly, however, the difficulties with walkability in this neighbourhood became apparent. For nearly the last decade, we had always lived in urban neighbourhoods (in Ontario and the UK) where nearly everything we needed on a daily basis – anything from the grocery store to the optometrist to the drugstore or coffee – was only a five or ten minute walk away. Until recently, we didn’t realize how essential this had become to our way of life.

As a one-car family in Hamilton, (a car which I rarely use, as I work from home), I often felt stranded in our new place, especially in the winter, with the only things to walk to being the convenience store and No Frills. Sure, the bus and taxis are readily available to take people wherever they want to go (and I did use them often), but there’s something to be said for heading out to the coffee shop for a break or taking a stroll to pick up something fresh for dinner.

With walkability at the top of our list of wants, we ended up putting down our permanent roots in the west end, with the shops and services of Locke Street or downtown now just a short walk away, and the hope that this will make all the difference to our quality of life in Hamilton.

This is not to say that a car will always be essential for those in the east end – I have every reason to think that my experience will not be the reality for much longer.

Things are constantly brewing on Ottawa Street, which seems to present the greatest potential for walkability for the neighbourhoods to the east of downtown, with new coffee shops and restaurants springing up regularly. It was also recently named one of the best streets in Canada.

Even closer to home, if the same type of amenities begin to move onto Main Street East, the residents of gorgeous south central and east neighbourhoods like Delta, St. Clair and Stinson will gain the opportunity that those in the west end have to shop local and stay out of the car more often – a concept which I’m sure is at the top of many people’s lists.

Patio season starts at Hess Village

A few weeks ago, we were greeted with a particularly sunny Friday afternoon. It was the first warm, sunny Friday of the season, so naturally, our minds drifted to patios.

Now, back in our former Toronto neighbourhood, we knew the patio options like the backs of our hands. No debate, we just headed up the street to one of three or so fave places. Hamilton is a different story - here we were, in the throes of this nice afternoon/evening, and no idea where to go to sit and enjoy a drink outside.

After some brief inquiries on Twitter, we found out that Hess Village was the place to go. Hess Village? The only thing I'd ever heard about this particular part of town was from my friend who went to McMaster for undergrad (you can see where this is going). Essentially, the only time she ever left campus was to party in Hess Village.

Well, that was not exactly the scene I was looking for on that particular day (or really ever these days!) but we headed off to Hess Village anyway, not really knowing what to expect.

To our surprise and delight, Hess Village (only about a block or two in size) was busy but not rowdy, and ideal. We settled on the Gown & Gavel patio, and sat down for a great dinner and drinks out in the sun. (This was also apparently voted best patio!)

Keep in mind that this was May (school was out!) I gather that September-April can be quite different in this area....

Hess Village is an interesting street - lots of eating/drinking options, obviously a desirable area for pubs/clubs and some other businesses as well. Our first thought was that a pedestrianized Hess Village (even one that is only pedestrianized on weekends) would be really cool - especially with the addition of street musicians or performers on busy evenings, for example.

I'm sure we'll be spending a few more warm, sunny afternoons there between now and August (but I'll be honest and say we likely won't be heading to Hess during the school year!)

We've also heard about a few other great patios to visit in the area - what's your fave summer patio in Hamilton?