a peek inside the fishbowl

28 Sep, 2016

Bucket lists and lunches

Posted by andrea tomkins in: Misc. life|Recipes and Food

Bucket lists. This is something I was thinking about at a recent lunch I attended at Coconut Lagoon that was hosted by Ford Canada. Ford invited a bunch of local bloggers for a meal (spoiler alert: it was amazing) and a chat with Robin Esrock, the author of The Great Global Bucket List (among other travel books).

First, I can’t write this post without talking a bit about the food. It was truly a memorable experience. Chef Joe Thottungal, the owner of Coconut Lagoon, gave us a detailed demonstration and lesson in South Indian cuisine.

It's all about the spices

This was followed by a quick lesson on how to wear a sari. Here’s me. I don’t know why I decided to choose this moment to demonstrate a royal wave (??):

The food followed. It was a splendid menu and everything screamed with flavour. Frankly, I was cursing myself for not coming out here before, despite hearing rave reviews from close friends. Our lunch included Sweet Potato & Ginger Soup with pappadum, Fish Pollichathu (Basa baked in a Banana Leaf – a delicacy in the region of Kerala, and something called thali, which was essentially a little bit of a few different dishes including Pork Vindaloo, Shrimp Curry, Mangalorean Chicken, Tadhka Dal, Madras Eggplant Masala.

September 22 #dailylunches - part of an amazing dinner at Coconut Lagoon

Mix this in with a stellar mango lassi and some lovely conversation, and you have a winner of a meal.

After lunch, Robin gave a presentation about his travels and the places he’s checked off his bucket list. It’s remarkable, really, all the places he’s been. It was VERY inspiring and I’m looking forward to reading about all of his adventures in his book:

New reading material!

So that was part one of this particular adventure. Part two is coming up later, some time in October. Ford is giving a few of us blogging types the opportunity to strike something off our own bucket lists. Although many of my bucket list items are travel-related, I know there are a few closer to home that would fit the bill. I’m just not sure what that will be yet. Tell me, if you had $250 to put toward anything that you’ve always wanted to do, what would it be? I could use some great ideas! In the meantime, I might have to head back to Coconut Lagoon to check out their lunch buffet. :)


7 Responses to "Bucket lists and lunches"

1 | joy

September 28th, 2016 at 2:00 pm

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a ride in a vintage plane over Ottawa ?

2 | Corvidae

September 28th, 2016 at 2:40 pm

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Hot air balloon ride. It’s in that range. In the fall on a foggy morning where the fog burns off and the spectacular colourful leaves appear below.

3 | Iron ribbon

September 28th, 2016 at 2:43 pm

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Take an overnight train to Halifax and back. All by yourself. Relax, write, read, reflect while watching the fall splendour rush by.

4 | andrea tomkins

September 30th, 2016 at 5:05 pm

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All great ideas, seriously!
1) I’ve always wanted to do the vintage plane ride over Ottawa.
2) Ditto for hot air balloon. Is that too predictable of a bucket list item though? I’m still pondering that one.
3) Overnight TRAIN. Omg. Wouldn’t that be something!>!>

5 | Katie

October 3rd, 2016 at 9:51 pm

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Visit historic sites in Canada. So many are peopled by great interpreters who love what they do.
I would love to get across Canada to see them all!

6 | a peek inside the fishbowl » Blog Archive Head start to home made? Sign me up. - a peek inside the fishbowl

October 23rd, 2016 at 6:00 am

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[…] juice and coconut milk. I had some powdered coconut milk in the pantry, which I had bought after a recent Indian food demo. (I had no idea such a thing […]

7 | Shannan

October 26th, 2016 at 2:46 am

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Pretty nice post. I simply stumbled upon your blog and wished to say that I have really enjoyed browsing your weblog
posts. After all I’ll be subscribing for your feed and I’m hoping you write again very soon!

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