Toronto’s Festival of Beer & Why You Should Go

Do you love the taste of a nice cold brew outside on hot summer’s day, relaxing in the sun and shade, with chill music in the background? I don’t know about you, but that’s my favorite way to relax and enjoy my summer. What’s even better is, there’s a FESTIVAL dedicated for it!

If you don’t know about Toronto’s Festival of Beer, aka BeerFest (and I’m not talking about the movie here) you are missing out on one of best times of your life.

This annual event is held at Toronto’s Exhibition Place at the end of July weekend, the large green space has beer tents on every angle you turn. If you’re like me, this is a beer connoisseur’s heaven. They also have promotional tents for free giveaways (yayy for free stuff!), delicious food trucks to feed the masses, and a concert stage for musical performances.

My favorite part is going out with friends and trying out all craft beers, especially supporting all the local craft breweries – like Hop City & Flying Monkeys,  my favorite local craft breweries here in Ontario! 🙂

I urge everyone to get tickets ahead of time because Saturday’s tickets sellout months in advance. However, if you sign up for Toronto’s BeerFest newsletter, you’ll be able to get tickets well before it’s available to the general public – you’ll be able to purchase your early bird ticket before Christmas! (that’s right they go on sale well before Jesus is born). These are hot commodity tickets.

This is my third time going in a row, cause who doesn’t love day drinking with half the city of Toronto.

I hope to see you all there!

The 90s Nostalgia Bandwagon

For some reason, the 90s have been on people’s minds the last few years. First, I noticed websites like Buzzfeed were making lots of 90s-related posts. Then fashion trends that I wish would have stayed in the 90s started to make a comeback.

If I may make a PSA, I’d like to warn that the Mom Jean trend can only lead to fashions like this:

I’m certain pleats are next! (it won’t be pretty)

I’m excited about some 90s-inspired fashions that are sneaking their way back (I’m looking at you, Keds shoes!). The last hint that the 90s is here to stay was when old shows created unexpected but welcome sequels like Girl Meets World and Fuller House. 

I don’t know where this nostalgia has come from, but I’m on board. I’ve noticed some things that always go unnoticed in the, “Reasons why the 90s were SO great” lists that we really need to address.

Least Appreciated Women’s Fashion

This one is tough, because I feel like a lot of 90s fashion moments go unnoticed. But in my effort to keep this short, I’m going to bring up the shoes. I lived in platform shoes, even though they didn’t go with anything that I wore.

These aren’t my photos, but I had these shoes and they were favorites.

I just had to have them, wore them all the time, and they never made sense with my outfits. They made me feel like a Spice Girl and that’s all that really mattered (Girl Power!)

But they made me happy, and I don’t know why we don’t talk about them.

Most Missed Discontinued Product

When people think back to the wonderful products that have left us since the 90s, they come up with Crystal Pepsi, Squeezits, Planters Cheez Balls, and other deliciously unhealthy treats.

For the life of me, I can’t recall why I ever wanted to chug a beverage with free-floating edible balls bouncing around in it. At the time, it seemed totally legit — much like most of my middle school phase. No wonder this fruit-flavored “texturally enhanced alternative beverage” didn’t last long after its inception in ’97. Lava lamps are fun to look at, but no one wants to drink one.

It seems I was the only person who liked it, and I couldn’t keep the business open on my nonexistent income and dreams. So they discontinued it and I’m just left with the memories.

Most Underrated Cartoon & Game 

If you were a kid in the 90’s like me, chances are you were a fan of Pokémon. We would beg our parents to buy us the expansion packs to further extend our Pokémon card collection.

As time went on, more and more Pokémon were added to the roster and because of this we slowly started to gravitate away from the franchise. If you were a fan of Pokémon in the ’90s, you view the original roster of 150 Pokémon as the original roster and the only one that really mattered.

But guess what? Pokemon are back!

With Nintendo’s new downloadable app, Pokemon Go, we get to experience the true meaning of what it takes to be a Pokemon catcher out in the real world: where to “catch them is my real test, to train them is my cause.”

This is the greatest 90’s comeback I’ve seen… I wonder what’s next?

What 90’s nostalgia are you onboard with? Have you played the new Pokemon GO app? Tell me your thoughts and ideas in the comments below.

 

 

 

 

Top 3 Reasons You Should go to Food Truck Festival Ontario

Summer is upon us, and you know what that means… “Festival Season.” I can’t get enough of the summer season, especially all the festivals that incorporate the outdoors, music, drinks and food!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not your typical foodie snob but if you love food and like to try out new things as much as I do – you definitely have to go to Food Truck Festival Ontario. Why? Well, let me tell you.

1. Variety of Food Dishes

So far, there will be more than 30+ gourmet trucks who will be in attendance, with a mix of local favourites like Jerk Brothers Busters Sea Cove and ME.N.U Food Truck as well as some newbies like Food Network’s Food Truck Faceoff winner, Fit to Grill and Indian fusion truck, Tdots Naansense.

2. Conveniently in One Place

Nothing’s worse than trying to find a food truck you’d like to eat from and being disappointed that they’re nowhere to be found (obviously, because they’re always moving around and changing locations). For the past 2 years, Food Truck Festival Ontario has been located at Downsview Park just north of Toronto where you can access a smörgåsbord of delicious meals – one after another- in one big place *with FREE parking.

3. Fun, Games and Amenities

After waiting in line and stuffing your face, usually one would like to relax or maybe have some fun (especially, if you’re bringing the kids along). Food Truck Festival Ontario has great entertainment from bands, hula hooping and play area for kids, to shade and beer tent areas for the older adults – I can’t forget about the big funnel cake eating contest!

I’m so excited to eat I already purchased my ticket for this year’s festival 🙂

I hope you all can make it out too!

Purchase your tickets here

You Gotta Try These Pretzels!

Have you ever come across something new and thought: “Why haven’t I tried this before?” This was my exact reaction the first time I tried strawberry yogurt covered pretzels… and I can’t get enough of ’em!

My recent visit to Whole Foods, the mecca of wholesome organic and environmentally- friendly products, was on a whim. I was there for my regular purchases but with time to spare, I decided to slowly shop aisle-to-aisle to see their variety and selection. In retrospect, this was in my opinion  probably not the best idea, since I’m a sucker for savory snacks, but I  had a craving for something sweet as well.  (oh, I can never resist the cravings…)

Behold, my eyes widened as I was instantly drawn to two of my favorite things – strawberries and pretzels! I had chocolate covered pretzels before, but never anything covered in yogurt. I love trying new things and this seemed to satisfy my craving for something sweet and savory.

On my way home, I opened and the bag and devoured a handful at a time. Not only did they smell amazing in their perfectly pink strawberry colour, but they tasted delicious. I highly recommend them to anyone who wants to try out a new snack, especially those who love combining sweet n’ salty to their palate.

Cheers!

Welcome to Everything Maya

 

Me in the experimental film exhibit at my favorite museum –  The MoMA, New York City 

Hello, to my fellow readers of my official first blog post… kinda exciting, right? Well, it is for me! I feel like I’m officially on the internet, connecting with a new type of community. I look forward to starting this new adventure, or should I say “electronic adventure” with you all.

My name is Maya Prsa, and I always wanted to start my own lifestyle blog to talk about things and issues important to me, but also have a way of expressing my thoughts and interests with others. I don’t have much experience on blogs or forums, but I’m already anticipating big excitement from starting this post. I hope to talk about an array of topics, everything from: great places to visit in Toronto, my favorite craft beers, vacation trips to New York, Caribbean or Europe to cultural trends, technological advances, advertising and marketing. I love all things media – digital, social to photography, film and television. So you’ll definitely hear about some of the latest films I’ve watched… or great documentaries I found on Netflix.

Cheers!