Went down to Victoria to spend some time with my best friend. Was great to see her after so long due to Covid and just having busy lives. Even though she is less than two hours away it can see so much farther when you have so much to do in your day to day.
We started of just hanging out at her house for a bit, but then the power went out so we decided that was our queue to start our day. Our first stop was at Mayfair to do a little shopping. Turns out that Coach is no longer in Victoria, which means that they are no longer on Vancouver Island! It looked like a recent closure because the store front was still with the Coach style and nothing was posted about a new store going in.
Next we headed downtown to pick up some macarons from Bon Macaron Patisserie. Their macarons are amazing! They have a location in Victoria and Vancouver. Check out their website here: Bon Macaron Patisserie.
Sadly, the white chocolate raspberry macron was not an option this trip. However, the strawberry cheesecake macaron is just as delicious. The tomato basil macaroon tastes exactly as the name suggests and is great. We ate some that evening and I brought some home as well.
*Allergy Alert*
Macarons contain almonds and dairy. There are dairy friendly options in some flavours. Are gluten friendly.
After we got our macarons we were in need of lunch and decided to look up what Japanese restaurants were near us. We stumbled on Ebizo Japanese Restaurant. Neither of us had tried it before and we thought why not. The are currently closed for dine in as they are a small space and Covid restrictions would make it difficult. We ordered the beef teriyaki main, a dynamite roll, and a vegetable tempura. In the vegetable tempura there were mushrooms, which is something I have not had in tempura before. The variety in the vegetable tempura was wonderful. The beef teriyaki was tender and the sauce was spot on. The found was amazing and we can’t wait to order again to try different things. Check our their website here:
Ebizo Japanese Restaurant Ltd.
Once recharged we did a little more shopping at Hillside. Ricki’s is the best place I have found to get some good business close. As dress pants can be an uphill battle. Luckily the staff at Ricki’s are absolute gems and great at helping you find your size and style. Both the Nanaimo and Victoria stores have had staff go above and beyond to help. Would recommend shopping there.
Dinner was a chill evening in with pizza from Pizzeria Prima Strada. This was a new restaurant to me and the style is very different than pizza I have had before, but was assured that it was delicious. We had the Carne and the Panna e Pancetta. The Carne had: tomato, fresh mozzarella, Genoa salami, Capicollo ham, pancetta, garlic, and oregano. The Panna e Pancetta had: cream, leeks, fresh mozzarella, ricotta, pancetta, and parmigiano. My favourite of the two was the Carne. Check out there website here: Pizzeria Prima Strada.
We watched a few episodes of Bridgerton on Netflix with dinner and while relaxing after. Nothing beats a chill night in with good company.
The next morning we made breakfast and debated what to do before I had to head back home. We landed on going to Cadboro-Gyro Park in the District of Saanich. We walked along the beach for a ways and then sat on a log to talk. A small row boat had come loose and was drifting along. It made its way across the entire bay and washed up on the shore near the playground. There were lots of birds looking for food in the sand and even a seal that swam by. On the logs and running on the sand we saw a few little lizards as well. Not sure what kind, but some were a darker green and some were a reddish-brown. Living on Vancouver Island is amazing and hard to image spending ones free time anywhere else.
“Love Where You Live”