Spring growth

As I was walking to my front door, I noticed this in the front yard and had to take a photo. I've been living in this apartment for over 2 years, and each year I notice these tulips popping up. Last year they were cut as soon as the lawn cutting company came in and cut the grass. On an interesting note, yesterday I went for a walk around Dow's Lake and the tulips were just starting to come out of the ground compared (all I could see was some green stuff) to these which are already blooming (at least kind of blooming, they are proud and happy to be out!) These are the first flowers I've seen in the neighborhood. It's nice that they are in my front yard! :)

focusing in

I decided to have fun today. Below are a series of photos that are focusing in on a shot. Playing with light and focusing in.

Il Piccolino

Tonight, I went out for dinner at a little Italian restaurant just down the street (in Little Italy) called Il Piccolino. Surprisingly the restaurant was empty, maybe it was the weather as a snowstorm was a brewin'. I had been there a few years ago during lunch and remembered that the food was good, but couldn't remember how good. I have to say that I was pleasantly impressed. I ordered the "esotica" which is a rich creamy curry linguini with shrimp and mushrooms. It was quite tasty, lots of flavour and I would definitely recommend this plate. My friend ordered the "gnocchi" which was even better if you asked me. I was a lot richer and tastier compared to my plate :) The gnocchi was made with a garganzolla cream sauce with roasted garlic and prosciutto. I would have traded plates if that had been an option. Both plates were quite scrumptious, and I would recommend this spot to others. Here's a few photos of the food and resto.

The linguini

The gnocchi

I surely will be back!

another sign...

Today's photo represents a little bit of me, and what I do. I tend to run around a lot, tonight I was playing volleyball and on the drive home I figured I'd look for something to take a photo of, something irregular. When I saw this sign, I thought to myself, there you go, something un-expected but representative of my evening and somewhat a surprise to see in its location. The sign was on Preston St, which is located in Little Italy for those of you reading this and not from Ottawa. Little Italy is kind of a busy street with lots of restaurants, and to see this sign, I was kind of surprised. I figured it might have some historical meaning, where once kids might have played in the streets or something. As I have never seen any kids playing in the area, outside the park which is a few blocks up the road.