Pho Xe Lua: I'm Trained to Visit

On Family Day Monday my wife visited the Art Gallery of Ontario for a day of art and culture.  For lunch we thought we would poke around to see if the newly renovate Art Gallery had any good place to eat with decent pricing. 

We knew the FRANK Restaurant would be out of the question as it looked very pricey so we thought we would try the AGO Cafe in the basement of the museum for some sandwiches and maybe a drink.  Then we saw the price of $8.00 per sandwich and, oh yeah and extra $1.00 if you wanted a drink with it.  $9.00 plus taxes for a saranwrapped sandwich and can of Coke? Really? 

We left the AGO for Spadina Avenue looking for some good Asian cooking.  We ran across the Pho Xe Lua (254 Spadina Avenue, Toronto) which we  had before and enjoy visiting a frequent basis. 

We entered and walked up the stairs where we were greeted and seated immediately. The serving staff brought us tea and picked up our menu order.

The Order: #108 - Pho with rare beef noodles and meatballs, #102 Pho with rare beef and tripe and gobs of tea to wash it all down.

The Pho was exactly like the Pho we normally enjoy at the Pho Xe Lua Vaughan location.  The Pho was excellent beef broth with rare beef and noodles.  My wife's pho, the #102, was just as she had at the Vaughan location. 

The only hiccup was when we asked for the bill.  Like the Vaughan location, we really did not have a designated server, as customers you just wave down any passing waiter or waitress for assistance. 

We inquired with a server who was at the cash machine behind our table for our bill.  He looked mystified as to what we want and inquired where table 61's (our table) bill was punched in. He went to another machine at the kitchen area.  He looked at the screen there and was interupted by another customer who was dropping off payment. Next thing we knew this server was walking to the other end of the restaurant to serve another table. 

We flagged down a waitress who was at the machine.  She printed our bill in less than 15 seconds and handed it to us with a smile on her face like we were her best customers.  

Despite the small hiccup in service I would still recommend this restaurant to anyone looking for Pho and moden vietnamese atmosphere.

Annalisa Asian Fusion a Fusion of Goodness

This past Wednesday my sister, brother and I headed up to Annalisa Asian Fusion Cuisine & Lounge (15171 Yonge Street, Aurora) for some good Asian food.

We entered Annalisa's one of our favourite places to eat in Aurora as it provides something different than the usual pub or Canadian food many places in the Aurora area serve.    

Annalisa's is a little weird in terms of the number of people it serves.  I have been to this restaurant a number of times at various times of day and differing days of the week to find the place with no more of 2 to 4 tables occupied at time.  Wednesday night was no different as we spied 4 tables occupied while we were quickley, yet courteously, seated and our order was taken.

The Order: Special Pho with a glass of Pepsi. All you can eat Sushi and Pad Thai.

Our food came almost together as the waiter made several trips from the kitchen and the sushi bar.  

I had forgotten how to order Pho as normally at my wife's and my usual Pho place I order it without the tripe, so I ended up with the  tripe and almost gagged a couple of times. But that was my mistake and the not the restaurants.  Otherwise the pho was excellent.

My brother had the never ending supply of sushi.  I'm not really one for sushi, but what was being prepared was well presented and, as my brother kept asking for yet another order sheet, the sushi was excellent. 

My sister had the pad thai and didn't seem to quibble over the taste or portion size.

Overall, Annalisa is a great place for those looking for a variety of Asian foods as well as for those in Aurora looking for something different from the usual pub and fast foods.

Starbucks Aurora Works for Me

Last Thursday I was off early to Aurora to attend an Aurora Chamber of Commerce Speed Networking event representing where I work.  I arrived in the area early so I thought I would stop off at a local coffee shop. 

Starbucks (2 Orchard Heights Blvd, Aurora) is an internationally well known coffee chain.  This partcular location is a little different as it is located within the St. Andrews Shopping Plaza which is a pedestrian open air plaza that can only accessed by parking the car in the surrounding parking lot and hoofing it into the interior or around the edge of the plaza building.  This allows the for patios and outdoor walkways to exist.  Too bad St. Andrews removed their water feature and replaced it with ongoing gardens, the water did add to the ambience but I guess the cost of filtering and cleaning the man made stream was prohibitive. 

This particular Starbucks would be great in the summer to enjoy an outdoor patio seating with a coffee in hand.  Too bad I was forced to stay inside by old man winter.  But at least there was free Wi-Fi and the usual great tasting, yet overpriced, coffee that Starbucks is known for.   I only needed a coffee at this juncture of my travels,  I was after all expecting breakfast at the Chamber of Commerce of event, so no need to spoil my appetite.

YRT Strike: Where does it Go From Here

Saturday afternoon Ray Doyle, Union Leader of ATU 1587, announced his union membership had accepted the offer from Miller Transit with an 80% approval rating and thus ending the 3 month plus  YRT/VIVA Bus strike of 2011-2012.   Earlier this week Bob Kinnear, Union Leader of ATU 113, announced his union local membership had accepted the offer from Veolia Transit with a 77% approval rating.  Meanwhile, the Region of York had earlier cancelled the YRT Services Contract for the YRT North Service Area with First Student and awarded it to TOK Transit.  Thus, with the Strike ending and promises of resumption of service starting February 4th after a little bit of driver training and some bus maintenance, there a couple of questions to consider. 

1. Why did the strike drag on so long?

The main reason the York Region Transit Strike took so long was the union leadership of both Union Locals 113 (Bob Kinnear) and 1573 (Ray Doyle) seemed more interested in trying to bring in the Region of York into the mix rather than negotiating with the private contractors of Miller, Veolia and First Student.  A great case in point is found in this interview with ATU Union Leader Ray Doyle where he spends most of the interview bashing the Region of York and it's Chairman and CEO Bill Fisch than talking about why he is not negotiating with Miller Transit or First Canada.

Both Bob Kinnear, ATU Local 113 Leader and Mr. Doyle spent more time calling on the Region of York to get involved by requesting binding arbitration from the province so his workers could return to work than they did at the negotiating table.  What's funny is when the Region of York did do something, by cancelling First Canada's contract, Mr. Kinnear files a motion with the Ontario Labour Board saying the Region of York is interfering negotiations by doing this right before a union membership vote on an offer from Veolia. First, Mr. Doyle and Mr. Kinnear wanted the Region of York involved in negotiations, then when the Region does enter by terminating a service contract with a contractor that has had very little negotiations with the unions, Mr. Kinnear cries fowl.

 Speaking of that particular vote, the Ontario Labour Board forced the vote via Veolia's request which took over a week to occur.  Meanwhile, in a similar situation Mr. Doyle's Union vote on a Miller Transit offer dook a mere two to three days to occur.  Why did Mr. Kinnear wait over a week for the vote to occur?  Was he trying to make sure all his membership fell in line to vote against the offer?

The Region of York rightly pointed out throughout the negotiations that it contracted out all transit operations to three service companies: Veolia, Miller and First Transit and that the labour negotiations with the ATU Union Locals was with the companies.  It rightly ended the contract with First Student and asked the other companies to present a plan on how they were going to restore service.  The union leadership meanwhile finally got the message after First Transit was terminated that the only way forward for their membership was to negotiate with the companies.  

Before this past week of negotations that led to agreements between Veolia and ATU Local 113 as well as Miller Transit and ATU Local 1573, the union leadership had periodic less than one day negotiation sessions with the companies.  These meetings, optically, seemed only to show that the ATU Locals were at least attempting to meet with the companies and that it wasn't working.  This basically was orchistrated by the union leadership in order to try to pressure the Region of York to become involved and ask the province to order binding arbitration.   This tactic went on for months and is mainly why the strike dragged on for so long.  

Bob Kinnear, after ATU Local 113 Membership approved Veolia's offer, said the following:

“It is unfortunate (Veolia and York Region) penalized the people of York Region throughout this dispute and had to wait three months to finally come to the table and realize that your worth and the service you provide to the people of York Region is worth substantially more than they were offering up until a week ago,”... “Congratulations, brothers and sisters, you came out on top.” - Yorkregion.com story.

Bob still just does not get it.  The Region of York was not involved in negotiations between Veolia and ATU Local 113 membership.  If they did get involved you can sure bet Mr. Kinnear and his union leadership brethrin would have been at knocking on the doors of the Newmarket court house so fast, York Regional Police could have met their quotas for speeding tickets at the corner of Yonge & Eagle Streets in Newmarket.   Bottom line, this strike dragged on so long not because of the companies and the region, but because the ATU Union Locals dragged their feet in returning to the negotiating table with the contractor companies.  This is how Ray Doyle, Bob Kinnear and the union leadership penalized the people of York Region, by making politicial hay out of the contract dispute instead of faithfully negotiating with the companies over new offers.  If this wasn't political, then why was the three union contracts with 3 different companies representing YRT workers all end at the same time?  Weird timing isn't it?

This strike could have been a lot shorter if negotiations if the union leadership was actually interested in negotiating with their employers and not going after their employer's client, the Region of York.

2. Where do the unions go from here?

There really is no definitive answer about where the union leadership and/or membership will go from here.  But there are at least two ways (and probably more) the unions could take things:

a) Remain the same with their workers working for the contractors Miller, Veolia and TOK Transit.

b) Call on the Region to take remove the contractors from YRT Services and let union membership run the operations with Region management oversight.  This would show the union leadership continues it's interests in removing what it calls multinational companies making enormous profits off the backs of union members and have their union members enjoy some benifits of hard work. 

The other option would be once the contracts come up for retendering was to put in their own competitive bid.  The unions, ironically enough as noted before, did not do this when the last YRT service contract came up for the Southwest Division.   Hopefully the union leadership will put their money and efforts into what they are saying about their membership's employers and take action by landing their own contracts with the Region.  Otherwise it is pretty hypocritical of Bob Kinnear and Ray Doyle to say the Region needs to be involved if the ATU Union refuses to become involved when the time comes to talk to the region about transit service agreements. 

3. What will happen when service resumes?

Media reports and YRT press releases have noted February 4th as most likely start date for service to resume following the strike by ATU Union Membership.   This is so bus maintenance can be undertaken and driver retraining can be done to ensure proper safe operating procedures.  Not all bus routes will be up and running on February 4th as TOK Transportation, who was awarded the service contract for YRT's North Division, has until mid April to complete roll out of service to all routes  (Source: page 4 of this Regional Council report).

The Region of York has repeatedly promised 1 month free service to all customers when service resumes.  The question many have asked over at the Region's Facebook page is when this will start with replies from the Region of York stating details will be available this coming week.  But with TOK Transit taking it's time in hiring workers and rolling out buses to the North Division and YRT customers now with February 2012 monthly passes in hand how will the region equitably start the free transit service so all customers can enjoy the benefits? Many YRT/VIVA customers will be interested to see how this will be done. 

Relations between YRT/VIVA customers and drivers have become strained.  Many customers felt like hostages as the drivers refused work.  Many customers walked long distances to get to school and work while the YRT/VIVA drivers walked the picket lines disrupting existing services legally and possibly illegally.  It will be interesting to see how the drivers are treated when they resume service, expect private security, YRT/VIVA Special Constables and York Regional Police presence to stepped up at least the first two weeks of service.  

Overall the Union Leadership is to blame for both the duration of the strike and the return to work conditions their drivers face.  ATU Union Local Leaders Bob Kinnear and Ray Doyle spent more time battling with their employee's employer's client, the Region of York than negotiating with their employers.  This caused the strike to drag on unnecessarily for months instead of a short duration like in 2008 when VIVA drivers under Bob Kinnear negotiated and resolved their contract with Veolia.  As the strike dragged on and the tiresome rhetoric from Bob Kinnear, Ray Doyle and others, customers became frhustrated which has led towards animosity towards both the union leadership and the drivers. Thus, it is really the union leadership who are responsible as they had the power to quickly return to negotations with Miller, Veolia and First Canada and chose not to do so by playing political games while their union membership walked the picket lines loosing out on just over 3 months of pay cheques.

Pizza Delight

This evening we rustled up some veggies, a little tomato sauce and other ingredients and dove head first into a little pizza making.  We found a recipe first in the local edition of 24 Hours newspaper and modified it once we had the pizza yeast with yet another recipe.   That recipe is what we chose to  make in the end.  

After just less than hour of making the 30 minute pizza (hey the first attempt is always the longest time you ever make a recipe) we popped the pizza into the oven for a fifteen minute baking.

Pizza before baking.

We waited patiently while the sweet smell of pizza emanated from the oven.  But finally the wait was over and we opened the oven to find our pizza ready for cutting.

Pizza after 15 Minutes of Baking

Overall this recipe tasted just like the pizza from our nearby pizza place, Abruzzo's which we enjoy somewhat.   On our pizza we included mushrooms, chicken, red peppers, spinach and of course mozzarella cheese.    

Hopefully next weekend we will take this recipe for a whirl, because over an hour later I'm still full!

On Friday, my coworker and I grabbed some coupons ordered over the phone and headed over to Pizza Pizza (14846 Yonge Street, Aurora) to pick up our order. 

The Order: 1 Extra Large Pizza with Pepperoni, Mushrooms and Sausage, 2 Cokes and 2 Poutines.

But before we could leave our office Pizza Pizza Customer service called to inquire if we actually placed an order for pick-up.  They explained that location had several blank orders come through and which location did we wish to order from. 

So I reordered again, pulled up the location on Google Maps so Pizza Pizza Customer Service could have the exact location to pick-up from (and not the one from across town).  So with the order in twice to Pizza Pizza we finely left hoping to pick up at least something.

When we arrived at the Pizza Pizza store it was crowded with High School students from the nearby Dr. G.W. Williams Secondary School. I stood in line while my coworker went to see if he could flag down the guy behind the counter as we had preordered and just wanted to pay, pick up and leave.  There was only one server, as far as I could tell, wandering between the pizza oven, the cash register and ready made slices to serve easily 50 high school students. 

Thank goodness my coworker was successful as otherwise I might still be in line as of this writing waiting for my now cold (frozen?) order.  We escaped virtually unscathed back to our office instead of hanging out with the zoo of high school students. 

The pizza overall was quite good.  The sausage was better than the nearby Regino's Pizza.  Otherwise the pizza was the usual run of the mill Pizza Pizza with tomato sauce and other toppings.  Nothing really to write home about, nothing special just Pizza Pizza taste.  What else would you expect from a chain pizza place?

The poutine was lackluster.  One poutine was drowned in gravy and cheese and was not too bad.  The other had a little gravy and might as well been an order of fries with a sneeze of gravy and barely any cheese.  It was like the fries had been wafted over the cheese and gravy sauce pan.

Overall the pizza was good, the customer service and poutine had much to be desired.  I might retry ordering another time from this Pizza Pizza while ensuring I do not pick-up or order while the high school students are clamouring for some za.

A Scrumptious Weekend of Cooking and Baking

This past weekend my wife and myself rolled up our sleeves, dug out the borrowed cook books from the local library and tried some new dishes and a recent faithful recipe.

First up was the Spaghetti with Olive Oil and Garlic.  We even took put our own little spin on the recipe and added some boiled spinach. The dish, as you can see - and we tasted - was quite delicious.

Spaghetti with Olive Oil & Garlic

Next up was an old favourite of both myself and the coniseur of cookies.  The one and only chocolate chip cookie.   This one also turned out fairly well except that we did not buy enough chocolate chips from Bulk Barn for the recipe so there may not have been enough chocolate chips per cookie quotient in the end.    Why Bulk Barn? Because you can purchase just enough ingredients for your new found recipe and if you do not like the results in the end, at least you are not stuck with more of the same ingredient with no use.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Finally the old/new standby recipe, the Artisan Bread which I previously made two weeks ago.  It also turned out fabulous. 

Hopefully there will be more of all of the above recipes in my future.  My stomach already thanks me!