Welcome to Canada!

Good day to everyone and greetings from Canada! I arrived in Toronto on Wednesday night, and I’ll be staying here till Canada Day. Then my next stop is New York.

First, I needed to motivate myself to pack for an 18-day trip.

A pot of mint tea to help me relax.

Thankfully I had someone cute to help me pack… or atleast keep me company.

Whilst I had a super skin-tightening clay mask that always makes my eyes bulge out.

Progress!

Packed a bagel for the trip.

Sprouted Wheat Onion Poppyseed Bagels with cream cheese, marinated portobello mushrooms, avocado, and some cucumber slices.

Alvarado Street Bakery makes great bread along with other things like bagels, rolls, and pizza bread! My old roommate would always get these bagels and they smelled so awesome when she’d toast them.

Fig Almond cake for snacking–check.

When we got to the airport there was a flight delay. It worked in our favor since we weren’t sure if we’d make it in time for check-in since it was an international flight, plus we had Matilda.

Oh, and that bagel sandwich? It was so good!

 We finally made it, and the cutest Canadian ever granted us permission to enter the country. My mom and I should’ve taken him up on his offer as tour-guide… even if he was just kidding!

Checking out her new surroundings.

First morning I decided to go downstairs with my mom to have breakfast.

They get their scrumptious bread from a local bakery, and the fried potatoes reminded me of Bratkartofeln. Alongside with a bowl of cottage cheese topped with fruits, muesli, and nuts.

My mom looked lovely before she headed into work.

Around lunchtime my mom and a few of her co-workers swooped me off to a Vietnamese restaurant.

I ordered the stir-fried vegetables with tofu. It was a simple meal, but I’m not sure what was in the sauce… or what it was but my stomach was swimming for the rest of the day.

Also tried a funky looking lychee drink.

Later on we went on a real food adventure–a Canadian grocery store!

My goodness! The produce section was HUGE! Foods from all over the world. Lots from Asia and South America. My mom even found granadia, also known as passion fruit. I also found a ton of kabochas, but there’s no way of preparing them here… unless the hotel lets me use their kitchen.

I was amazed by all of the cheeses and breads that were at the store–these are some Canadian specialties.

They had a shelf just of German breads, and different kinds of pretzels to choose from. There was also a freezer-full of gluten-free options as well!

And lookie here what I was reunited with!

They stopped carrying these in America because people may choke on the small toys inside -cough-stupid lawsuits-cough-.

Milk chocolate goodness!!!

Beware you could choke on these, bahaha!

I was curious about these… they reminded me of a less saltier version of Bugles–tasty.

Got some of the best hummus ever (you can smell the caramelized onions!), and I wish the US had lentil salads like this on the regular.

I would gladly buy pre-packaged food like this!

Enjoyed over a bed of lettuce and various sprouts.

We also got a loaf of Swiss fruit and muesli bread.

Ze cheeeese

Cheese monster

Such a creamy and oily texture under the rind.

Pantry full–check.

Fridge full–check.

My mom spotted fresh gooseberries at the store as well.

We also got this interesting tea to try–this is what it looks like when a tea bag is holding on for dear life.

I also found some chamomile flowers when I was on a walk with Matilda.

This is just the beginning of my trip so there will be many more recaps! So far I really think it’s neat that everything here is in French and English. I’ve been reading everything in French with my best accent, and just having fun with it. I wanted to go on a run and explore some more. Alas it started raining heavily so that will have to wait.

In other news, Meg has started a new tradition on her blog called “Feature Friday”, and she asked me to be on her blog! Meg is one of those girls that has a good (and incredibly beautiful) head on her shoulders. She’s got a great outlook and such an awesome sense of humor. So check out her blog if you don’t know her already, and you can also check out my post right over here!

I hope you all have a great weekend ahead of you.

How do you guys like to get to know the places you visit?

Anyone have any recommendations for while I’m here?