FRIDAY IN TORONTO

I'm back after a wonderful, whirl-wind trip to Toronto. But I'm still catching up on my rest. (We walked and walked and walked and walked ....).

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On Day 1, I met my LD2 (Lovely Daughter #2) at The Cherry Bomb in Roncesvalles -- she had to work for an hour that morning and I had to take the streetcar all by myself and then find the cafe. I did it, brave warrior princess that I am! We had coffee and croissants and set out to capture elusive bargains!

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Roncesvalles is the Polish neighborhood of Toronto. The avenue itself is perhaps 16 blocks long?? and there were oodles of little cafes and pastry shops and vintage stores -- not so many thrift stores! But it was such fun to go into some of them and look around. I did buy an amazing pair of dark red leather boots (picture yet missing). (I need to polish, shine and protect them -- then they will appear in their as-yet unseen glory for all of you to ohh and ahh over! )

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At the top of Roncesvalles (on College St??), we took the streetcar to Kensington Market. I'd wanted to visit this end of town ever since the late 60's/early 70's when the Canadian TV program "King of Kensington" used to air. I had dreams of finding fresh Italian cannoli just like the star of the show, Larry King (Al Waxman) used to eat.

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It had begun to rain by this time. I didn't find cannoli, but here's what I did see -- lots of street markets and vintage shops:

The Chocolate Addict was a disappointment for a die-hard fan like me; they lie people!!!
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LD2 saw lots of things she liked. My philosophy is that if I wore the original, I ain't wearing it again! I pointed out this pristine-condition, hot pink wool cape to my daughter; and her response was:

"Hmmm. Perfect for ritual virgin sacrifice!"

And on second glance (and after meeting the owner), I think I agree!

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This same overpriced shop had a wool blanket I asked about. But the owner was so rude, I kept my money where it was and I didn't buy it! We left!!

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We walked and walked some more, in and out of shops. We passed this along the way, and I thought it was a very clever and green use of junk! As a gardener, I was very pleased!

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In between all the walking and window shopping, we had lunch at this place.

We both choose a salad. (I start out eating healthily but get more decadent as the day goes by! You'll see!!) You had your choice of greens and 6 toppings; my choices were spinach and argula with chickpeas, black olives, carrots, cucumbers, pea pods and these great seasoned croutons that were almost like eating meat! It was topped with seeds, parmesan cheese and a Thai dressing. So yummy!!

Here are some of their wonderful soups -- Sweet potato, Tomato basil, veg chilli.

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Stay tuned for Part 2 of Day 1 and a continuation of my fantastic fun and food adventure in Toronto!