Easter Reunion

After almost 10 years we reunited with our old high school friend, Edsel and we finally got to meet his wife of 20+ years Aileen.
The last time any one of us has seen each other was way back in Dec 2006 when Tresa, Kieran and I last visited Asia on a vacation out to Singapore, Hong Kong and Beijing.  Sukaboy in Hong Kong
Kieran was 19 months.

And I can't even remember how we hooked up, but I let him know I was in town and we got together reminisce and chat about who is doing what, where are they now, and when will we get to see each other again.

It was his first trip back to T.O. Since 1999.  I remember that visit oddly enough.  I was Derrick's house in B-town when he was still living there and I was hanging out there with him after work.  Probably playing NHL99 on the Xbox.  And we continue that every year.   This time he came to my house and we played COD III.  Taught me some pro-skills he learned on YouTube.

It's actually quite fun.  Not a big gamer, but I bought a PS4 this Christmas as reward for all my hard work on the kitchen and bath.  Not something I really needed or even wanted.  But often we never give ourselves a pat on the back for doing something good.  That we should always be content with just doing the good deed.  The reward is in the deed.  I get that.  And it's true.  But you know what.  I don't ask for much.  But I thought 'what the heck'.

About a month ago we got an email that Edsel was planning on coming for a visit.  That month came pretty quick, which just goes to show how busy we are with our lives and how important these occasions are.  It would be our first face to face meeting with his wife.  After so many years, and a yearly christmas card that would show how his 3 boys had grown up to be young adults.  He was the first to start a family.  The rest of us chose to start much later.  It really doesn't matter which you choose.

So this week, we hadn't put much thought into getting together or where or what to do.  But we ended up at Susur Lee's restaurant.
Reservations are important because there is no way you'll get one that day.  Earlier seems easier and also better for parking because there is no parking. Only street parking.

The food was terrific.  It's such an experience.  Flavours are at another level.  Iron-Chef level.  Which is a fact, Susur was the second Canadian Chef to go on the show (the first was Rob Feenie), going head to head against Bobby Flay.

NZ Sauvignon Blanc Mount Fishtail
Singapore Slaw
TopChef Curry Chicken
Cod
Shrimp
Cheeseburger spring roll

Signature dessert that we all shared.
We were already satisfied.  None of us want to ruin it by going beyond that.

I forget the exact menu names of the dishes, but this was what we ordered. All recommendations from our server.
And we really love this family style dining where everyone gets a sample.
It's how it should be.
None of this humongous dishes that overcompensates for quality of food for quantity that is typical for many N.Amer restaurants, especially so in the US where Supersize is the norm.

Table talk consisted a lot of 'oohs' and 'wow this is really good' and discussion of where the dish might have it's influences from and how we manage to keep our waistlines from going to the point of replacing the belt with a rope.   I think it's great that we all still have a full head of hair. :)

How you look and feel has everything to do with what you eat and living active than anything else.  And the fact that Tresa is my not-so-secret secret on style.  I have nothing from the past.  It's been donated.  I was living in a clothing world of L-XL when I was nowhere close to that.  I was a SM-Med.  She redefined me. She carefully picks out everything for Kieran and I.  She's just so tremendously good at it.  It may be too late for me.  But hopefully Kieran learns some style sense.

Aside from the food discussions, it was more important to discuss when and where we will see each other again.

If it has COD on it.  I'll be teaming up with Derrick again. HA.  He may want Kieran as a gaming partner instead since his skill was definitely on display after playing COD for only a few days.  But our playing on Star Wars Battlefront, Lego Movie and Little Big Planet 3 and Knack was where we first started honing our skills.

Not YouTube Pro-skills level...but fun.

We haven't been to the Asia Pac side in years.  We are feeling the travel itch to re-visit that part of the world again.