Toronto Day Two: Kensington Market and Brunch

One of my more distinctive memories from Toronto is of the St Lawrence Market in Old Town. I remember the "Honey Boys" cookies from the one of the bakeries and toddling around next to my parents. So of course we needed to see how much of the market had changed in the past decade.

We walked from our apartment building to the St Lawrence Market, about a twenty minute walk. It was wonderful to walk around after sitting in the car for hours the day before!

A fountain with bubbles!

We stopped at a Starbucks for coffee before entering the indoor market. We made a beeline for Carousel Bakery for the world famous Peameal Bacon Sandwich. Dad and I got the sandwich with egg and cheese, while Mom and Emma had theirs plain.

For those of you who don't know, Peameal Bacon is a St Lawrence classic. According to Wikipedia Peameal Bacon is a type of back bacon that is brined, rolled in cornmeal and then grilled.

Yum yum!

After our light breakfast, we walked around the market and looked for the famous Honey Boys! Unfortunately the bakery does not seem to have Honey Boys anymore! *Sad face* 

No Honey Boys!

The variety of meats at the market is absolutely astonishing. One of the butchers, White House Meats, has everything from camel to turtle! Emma was not happy when she saw them. 

Since we had such a great walking tour in NYC, we decided that we had to do one in Toronto. After much deliberation we chose the Kensington Market and Chinatown walking tour from Urban Adventures.  And I am so glad that we did! The tour was fantastic, and Mike (our guide) added enough fun facts and humor that the entire tour was entertaining.

We met in front of a statue outside the Art Gallery of Ontario and of course we had to have a photo shoot!

The tour went through Chinatown and we saw some gorgeous graffiti. The guide told us about the different types of graffiti and the history of Chinatown. It was really upsetting to hear about how the Chinese people were treated throughout Canadian history. The murals, however, were inspiring. The city of Toronto now endorses some of the graffiti murals, which is helping the artist community.

You do not want to be called a "toy" in the graffiti community

Kensington Market is one of the coolest neighborhoods ever! It reminded me of the Village in NYC, but much more eclectic and bohemian. After more murals, a stop to a coffee shop and a bagel shop, the tour ended. It was a great tour and gave me the opportunity to take some great photos!

After the tour we shopped a bit (there will be a blog post all about shopping and what I bought) and decided to get some brunch. We went to Templeton's in Kensington Market.

Mom, Dad, and I split a pitcher of mimosa, which were so good on that hot day! 

I got the breakfast burrito with sausage. It hit the spot, although I could only eat half of that!

Mom ate the chicken avocado wrap, Dad had the breakfast burger (which was my second choice) and Emma chose the breakfast platter. 

We then headed back to the apartment before going to a friend's house for the reunion. We had a great time there seeing people that we haven't seen in years. It was particularly weird for me because the last time I saw most of those people was when I was seven or eight!

I hope you enjoyed reading about our first full day in Toronto! The next post will feature the Royal Ontario Museum and Yorkville. 

Thanks,

Kara

Toronto Day One: The Drive and Niagara-on-the-Lake

Hey everyone! I hope that everyone is having a nice weekend. We certainly did! We arrived in Toronto on Friday evening. Our first plan was to fly into City Airport, but then we realized that Emma's passport hadn't been renewed! Even though you need a passport to get to Canada by air, you don't need it to get there by land. Disaster averted!

It was a beautiful drive and it didn't feel like we were in the car for eight hours. We stopped for breakfast and a snack before seeing signs for Canada.

The original plan was to go to Niagara Falls, but by the time we crossed the Canadian border we wanted to sit down and eat a late lunch/early dinner. So we decided to go to Niagara-on-the-Lake. We drove along the wine route until we reached Niagara-on-the-Lake. This town is completely picturesque and adorable!

We went to the first restaurant that we saw, Corks, and we were immediately seated on the covered deck. The covered deck would become very useful when the sun showers started! We started with the calamari with a chipotle mayo.

Dad and I both got the lamb burger with feta except he got the lettuce, tomato and onion, and I did not. The burger was okay, but I was so hungry that it didn't matter!

Mom and Emma both chose the prime rib sandwich. Emma ended up not liking the sandwich and got chicken tenders to replace it. Mom, however, enjoyed her sandwich.

We wandered around the town and at different moments Mom would point out a restaurant and say, "We ate there once! Kara, do you remember?" And I would have to say "Nope!" This has become somewhat of a theme for this trip!

Every few stores was another ice cream parlor or gelato shop (and since it was the last day of National Ice Cream month . . .), we needed to go and get ice cream! We went to Cows Creamery for a delicious frozen treat. I got strawberry ice cream in a chocolate dipped cone. A perfect dessert for a warm day summer's day!

Adorable T-shirts!

By the time we were done with our ice cream it was time for us to get into Toronto. It was another 90 minutes in the car until we reached the apartment building where we were staying.

We had great views of the CN Tower from our balcony! 

The drive was great and Niagara-on-the-Lake is one of the cutest places ever! We decided to stay in for the night because we had a busy Saturday planned!

See you next time!
Kara

Thoughts Post-India

So I have been back in the US for about a week after my crazy, stressful and amazing trip to India. Mom and I had a great time seeing a country that I only dreamed of visiting. As one of my Mom's colleagues told us: India is a country of contrasts. We saw towns being built outside of New Delhi and homeless people living in the construction sites. Beautiful hotels and office buildings next to the slums.

It was disconcerting to be stared at while walking around the Red Fort or the Taj Mahal. I don't like to be the center of attention and definitely not like that. That was the most "overwhelming" part of the trip. Even though I followed all the clothes advice for women traveling to India (baggy pants and shirts that covered most of my arms) I still felt too exposed. It was kind of a relief to walk through Frankfurt Airport without worrying if people were looking at me.

As for food, it was amazing! Have you seen the photos from Dakshin? I love Indian food and I loved being able to eat actual Indian food in India.

Look how yummy this looks!

The only problem with the food was constantly having to think about whether or not I could eat it. Before we left the US we had to get vaccines and talk with a doctor about what we could eat while in India. We couldn't eat raw fruits or vegetables, anything dairy (because we would not know if it was pasteurized) and she even said no chicken! While we didn't follow this to the letter (see Dakshin dinner with chutneys), it was stressful not to eat what I like without worrying if I'll get sick. Even with all that worrying I still felt sick for a few days of the trip.

This trip was a once in a lifetime experience and I don't regret anything. Although I was feeling ill for part of the trip I still saw the Taj Mahal, Qutab Minar, Bangalore Palace and more! I now appreciate living in the US a lot more. Now I want to figure out how I could help the people that I saw living in utter poverty.

Yesterday I embarked on another international journey to Canada. Which is very different from India! We used to live in Toronto before Emma was born and I haven't been back since she was a baby. I'm super excited to be back and see what has changed in the past 11 years. You'll be able to read all about it in the next few blog posts!

See you then,
Kara

(PS Click HERE to sign up for theSkimm, the only way I start my day!)