Foo Fighting Fish Fingers

The slippery piece of fried halibut danced through my fingers as if it were still a live fish attempting to escape. Laying there motionless on a bed of fries was a single piece of "Foo Fighting" fish fingers that almost seemed to be mocking me, daring me to venture further in my attempt to consume it.  Not wanting to be outdone, I finally made the resolve to end the battle with this piece of battered marine life by dunking it in tartar sauce. Although the piece of halibut graciously accepted it's defeat and would eventually succumb to having it's final resting place on top of my tastebuds, it wouldn't be without pulling one last trick up it's sleeve. As I proceeded to drown this stubborn piece of fish in tartar, it suddenly began breaking up into large chunks as my fingers neared the tartar, resulting in bits of fried batter, halibut, and tartar sauce all over my fingers. At the same time, the howling wind beat against the tent which was meant to shelter all the patrons down at Barb's fish and chips. But nothing could have stopped me from indulging from the gooey goodness that comes from fried halibut dipped in tartar :)

I don't need to tell you that that was my adventure to Barb's Fish and Chips the other day. In the past few days, I've felt that my time in Victoria has been drawing to a close. I expected to be in Buenos Aires by now but God had different plans for me and it turns out that I had things to do and people to see and connections to make before I go back. And being here longer has allowed me to enjoy the very best of the city. Activities that would be the norm for the people here are a huge treat for me.

This last Saturday was the first clear day in a long time and I decided to take advantage of it and suck in every moment of the good weather. I found myself hopping off the bus downtown and making my way towards the breakwater by Dallas rd. But on my way there, I noticed a sign that said that the James Bay Community market was on from 9-3 so I decided to have a detour and stop by the community market. It was truly a treat to listen to local musicians, and walk by arts and crafts stores and look at potential gifts and souvenirs for my friends down in Argentina.

Next I would continue down to the breakwater and from there, would take a nice long walk up to Clover Point where the rest of the afternoon would be spent on the beach, laying in the sun reading "The Life of Pi" and listening to music on my ipod. While I was on the beach, I sent a text to my best friend in Buenos Aires, Marisa and said "I'm resting on the beach here in Canada and it's so quiet and calm!  One day soon, you're gonna be sitting here together with me on the beach. I can't wait to travel with you to Canada". An hour later I got a text that said that she was so happy for me that I was enjoying myself. And that it was cold down in Buenos Aires. But it would be wonderful to get a chance to see Canada".

Life is made up of little moments and one thing she and I have learned about maintaining relationship is just to take little moments for each other. That's how we've learned to stay connected and to keep our friendship fresh during this time that I've been abroad. We don't need to be texting alot. Our texting is alway very brief but it's always very special when that moment comes where we get a chance to connect with each other through text.

After my relaxing time on the beach, I was hungry so I decided to take a stroll into Cook Street Village. Even though I didn't have alot of money on me, I couldn't have been in a better place. Cook St. Village is full of neat places that offer very good food at ridiculously amazing prices.  My search for something cheap and filling would take me to "The Bubbly Rose Bakery" where not only would i find sweet eats but I would see a very sweet site.

There was a father and a daughter in the bakery and they wanted to buy a large chocolate chunk cookie. The father only had so much change on him to buy the cookie, it was to the point he was calculating if the cookie had tax on. Seeing their plight, I offer to make up for the different in the price but another stranger sitting down at the table beat me to it. Hey gave the father the difference in change so that he could buy the cookie. The little girl glowed and the father beamed proudly and said "What other place could you find a community like this?"  Witnessing all that made my first ever visit to the "Bubbly Rose Bakery" unforgettable.

Buenos Aires is a beautiful city too, in a very different way. In the same way that they have alot to celebrate, we who live on the island have alot to celebrate also.  We not only have a beautiful city but we have so much local talent within this beautiful city. Talent like the group Santa Clara who has just launched their music video today. I took a glimpse of the music video and was very pleased to see that it was shot in some of Victoria's prime spots. The music video is a magnificent representation not just of the city but of the artistic talent that lies within it. The music video is also being featured on my other blogsite that I created as a tribute to the band Creatively Complex



Tango 2 the Moon