Mark and I went for a quick cross-country ski this morning. Given the sub-arctic temperatures we had in Ottawa at Christmas and the usual freeze-thaw-freeze cycles, this represented his first outing on skis this year and only my second. Our destination: Pine Grove Trail. It’s an NCC trail in Ottawa’s east end, just off Davidson Road. (We parked at P18. Get more info about it on the NCC website!) It’s a very easy and pretty trail; perfect for those of us who are feeling rusty and need a bit of a confidence booster. Well, I’ll tell ya, the weather was perfect, maybe a little too perfect, because the new light fluffy snow stuck to the bottom of our skis in a very bad way. So much so that we lost all of our swoosh and were practically walking by the end. I couldn’t figure out what we did wrong (wrong wax?) or if it was just a perfect storm of winter conditions (fluff + barely zero degrees + ski friction = cement-like snow clumps) that made it happen.
It was comical. It felt like we were trudging along on very long and pointy snow shoes! It may have been easier to just take them off, but we persevered.
I survived with my good humour intact by shifting my perspective. Instead of fixating on the lousy ski conditions I concentrated on the beauty all around me and how good it felt just to BE here at all.
Part of what kept me going was knowing there was a part TWO of our Sunday outing: a coffee date. I’d been Googling variations of “best coffee shops in Ottawa” and “Ottawa coffeeshop date” before finally settling on a destination that isn’t primarily known as a coffee shop: The Scone Witch. It’s been years since I’ve eaten at the Scone Witch so I figured we were long overdue for a visit. The Beechwood location was closest, so that’s where we went.
The Scone Witch gets top marks for coffee. Mark and I both ordered a latte and they were hot and strong; exactly what we needed. There’s lots of variety on the menu and I had a tough time deciding what I wanted. Mark ordered the bacon and cheese melt on a cheddar scone. I normally choose something from the savoury side of the menu but today I opted for the vanilla cream scone with strawberry jam on the side. It was bliss: a warm, fresh, perfectly textured melt-in-your-mouth scone. A winner in my books for sure. Mark really enjoyed his choice as well.
I am drooling just thinking about this:
The ambiance was less enticing, but consistently high Google reviews makes me think people don’t care because the scones are so good. It’s open and bright, which is great, but the high ceilings create an echo chamber which amplified kitchen sounds and also amplified the person next to us who spent a long time talking very loudly on her phone. (Ugh. Awkward.) A combination of high and low seating creates a social environment but not necessarily one in which you’d want to hunker down with a laptop (in case this was your thing) or have an intimate conversation. It’s a bit rough around the edges in some ways here, but it’s hard to know if it’s because it was a Sunday afternoon or whether this is a regular state of affairs e.g. garbage on the floor and an overflowing bin of dirty dishes.
All in all, although this was a bit of an eat-and-run situation it was a delicious coffee date. And I’m hungry for more! Ottawa friends, which independent coffee shop should we visit on our next date? I’d really like to make this a regular thing and would love to hear about your favourites.
03 Feb, 2018
By andrea tomkins in Ottawa
How do you feel about the month of February in general? Let’s review the pros and cons:
PROs
- The days are finally starting to feel a bit longer.
- It can be argued that February represents the “good” side of winter. It’s the end of a long cold season and we can still enjoy winter activities if we so choose,
- … eg. WINTERLUDE.
- There’s also Valentine’s Day, if you’re into that sort of thing,
- … and even if you’re not, all the chocolate goes on sale Feb.15!
CONs
Enter: the Escape Room. I’ve written about escape rooms here before. I’ve done three or four and although I’m no expert by any means I am keen to do more of them.
If you don’t know what an escape room is, it can be summed up this way: Imagine that you are locked in a themed room with a small group of people and need to solve a series of puzzles in order to escape before time runs out.
I had coffee with someone this week – an escape room virgin – who told me she and her work colleagues have booked two rooms at Escape Manor in Hintonburg. I was just there recently, so I found myself giving her some tips.* I thought I should share them here too.
- 1 – Break your group down into smaller groups. The puzzles are spread out around the room, so divide and conquer! I’ve found that having two people looking at each puzzle is a huge help.
- 2 – This sounds like a no-brainer, but if there’s a combination lock, you need to find the combination. So look for things around the room that result in a number. Ask yourself, is there a number here? Sometimes it can be a bit abstract, but it will be there nonetheless.
- 3 – Puzzles are mathematical/numeric, language-based, and also, physical. It’s hard to explain without giving anything away, but move things around and use your body where you can.
- 4 – Look at everything in the room very carefully. Something as simple as a framed photo on the wall may be an important clue. Make sure you REALLY look at it. Take it off the wall if you can. Look very closely at the photo, the frame, behind the frame, everything!
- 5 – As you move around the room, share what you’re looking at with the other group. Talk to one another! Something may come up that may provide a valuable clue. e.g. “The note on this bookshelf says something about a key in a clock.” The other team might be looking at a clock as you’re saying it. Then you bring them together. See what I mean?
(Got any more escape room tips to share? Leave ’em in the comments below!)
My group did the “Psycho” room at Escape Manor and it was REALLY fun. I don’t want to give anything away, but I will say that although some parts were tough, we almost got out. We were one puzzle away from escape! Instead, we died (figuratively speaking, of course).
Well, I am officially obsessed with escape rooms and am dying to do another one. In fact, I was just looking at the other rooms available on the Escape Manor website. I wish there was a way to know if the room is going to be too hard for me or not. The room has to be just challenging enough to make it fun. If it’s TOO hard, it can be frustrating. Know what I mean? Maybe there could be a user-based rating system. But then again, that might not be the most accurate way of illustrating the difficulty level because a newbie would rank a room harder than an expert. Also, when a new room opens, the owners tinker with the puzzles and make changes. Maybe escape rooms should provide difficulty ratings on a scale of 1-10? Or publicly release information about the success rate for each room? What do you think?
I’d love to hear more about your own escape room experience if you have one!
*I was at Escape Manor by invitation via the Ottawa Travel Massive group. My group and I were able to puzzle through one of their rooms free of charge but was not required to write about it. Want to try out a room at Escape Manor? From now until Valentine’s day, use promo code VAL25 to save 25% when you book a room between February 11th and 14th.
