Family and feasting

The mother-in-law has arrived, bringing with her sufficient quantities of tea and crumpets to start a small business – not to mention the Malteasers and extremely chocolatey Marks & Spencer biscuits that we had begun to crave after over two months here. She’s joined us in particular for Harriet’s birthday, which we celebrated on (Good) Friday with a trip to Vegetarian Haven on Baldwin Street. From an all-vegan menu of delicious Asian cuisine, we sampled crunchy garden rolls, spicy eggplant, purple rice and even tofu ice-cream, topped with chocolate sauce and a birthday candle.


The whole Easter weekend has a strong family ethos in Canada, with many of our colleagues hosting or visiting relatives. We were invited to a delicious brunch on Easter Day by the mother-in-law of Harriet’s second cousin once removed (or something like that), who by chance lives only a few streets away. Plates overflowing with salmon, ham – my colleagues tell me that turkey and ham are the meats of choice for a Canadian Easter, with lamb in third place by a distance – vegetables and broccoli salad were followed by a mouth-watering array of desserts, from trifle (made especially for us Brits) to Maltese biscuits. And of course, chocolate eggs are a hallmark of the season. We didn’t partake in the massive hunts that children here can enjoy, but (even from thousands of miles away) my parents treated us to chocolate pods from SOMA, a beautiful chocolatier in the Distillery District.


When not eating, we also found time to visit a few different churches in Holy Week, and the amazing weather gave us opportunities to explore some of Toronto’s beauty spots. But since we’re feeling somewhat lethargic after our chocolate feast, we shall leave those for another time!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Canadian coffee culture

Image
Let’s take a trip across Toronto through six flat whites! Of all the coffee places we’ve explored so far, these six seem to epitomise Canadian coffee culture, illustrating the variety in price, style and taste. 1. Second Cup Coffee Co. – $3.65 I’d be lying if I said I always managed to hunt down an independent coffeehouse for my daily caffeine fix, so f or a true survey of Canadian coffee culture, we have to begin with chain coffee stores.  In Toronto Tim Horton’s and Starbucks compete for most popular, but my favourite of the chains is Second Cup. Established in 1975, they offer a flat white with a mellow espresso and tonnes of creamy milk. This is my go-to comforting afternoon pick-me-up that can be found on almost every corner of downtown Toronto, for a moderate $3.65. And if it’s been a really long day I love to pair my creamy coffee with a traditional Canadian delight – maybe a butter tart or a Nanaimo bar. Whatever gets you through the long winter, ey?! 2. Sorry
Read more

Partying and puppets

Image
Another birthday and another week of fine dining: Canadian on Monday, Spanish on Wednesday, Mexican on Friday, and Italian on Saturday. The diet starts next week! Highlights included Barcelona-inspired cocktails, fresh guacamole (smashed right in front of our eyes with an Aztec pestle and mortar) and caramel-covered churros. Plus, my colleagues treated me to a delicious chocolate cake. Clearly it didn’t take them long to discover the way to my heart! For our cultural feast, we headed to The Nightingale and Other Short Fables with the Canadian Opera Company. What an experience! The brainchild of Quebecois director Robert Lepage, it blends an array of song cycles and instrumental works by the twentieth-century Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. The orchestra sit on stage, their pit now a pool of water. First, mesmerising shadow hand puppets depict folktales and nonsense songs: kittens catching mice, peasants gathering riches, a dove in flight. Then, acrobats and their silhouette
Read more

Arrival

Image
Well, after months of excitement and planning, we have finally made it to Canada. After arriving yesterday in a light sprinkling of snow, our first 24 hours in Toronto have been a flurry of activity: we’ve obtained temporary work permits, gained the keys to our new condo, unpacked all five suitcases, acquired our social insurance numbers, applied for provincial healthcare, opened bank accounts, taken out cellphone contracts, joined the public library, found our way around our local supermarket, and traversed the length (if not yet the width) of downtown Toronto in search of some delightful homeware. All of which is not to say that our arrival in Toronto has been entirely challenge-free. We quickly discovered the Canadian love of queuing, and have spent several of the last 24 hours standing in line to submit the next form. We’ve also been perplexed by the rich variety of sheets which North Americans use to adorn their beds: our bleary-eyed visit to Homesense at about 1am GMT
Read more