Monday, November 17, 2008

The Toronto Social Whirl

Once we got back from Cuba, we only had a few days to make the most of Toronto before flying across to Vancouver. This involved scheduling everybody in for meal times (or snack times, which I am certainly not adverse to) so we got to see everyone. There were of course some individual snack times, such as a visit to Kensington Market Organic Ice Cream. There happened to be two vegan flavours which were perfect - chocolate made with hemp butter for T (who all but worships the coca bean) and pecan pumpkin, just in time for Thanksgiving for me. Pumpkin being used in sweet dishes is new to me - I had of course heard of it, but never tried anything sweet involving the orange stuff. I'm happy to report that it was spectacular - the owner Brad tried to convince me to get a regular not a kid's cone, saying that when we got back to Australia I would regret not getting the bigger size. Brad, you were so right.

Chocolate & Pumpkin by you.

Nose by you.

The splodge on T's nose is for my entertainment purposes. He is so obliging. 

Prior to the social whirl commencing, we walked off the ice cream in Trinity-Bellwoods park. Luckily for me, TB is a huge dog park, so I got to meet lots of friends while crunching around in the autumn leaves. 

Autumn Leaves I by you.
Dogs Off Leash Area by you.

And now, let the social whirl begin!

The Old Roomies by you.

T and his old roomies Tiff and Stan at the house of Tiff, her wonderful partner Paul and their gorgeous wee son Alex. Also whirling with us was Kirsty, the lovely wife of Stan and Rudy, Stan's Dad visiting from Calgary.  

Alex by you.

Tiff and Paul's little guy Alex.

MST by you.

The next day we visited Mel and her gorgeous little girl Sadie. I also finally got to meet Karol and hear some of the stories involving her that T had told me first hand. I was not disappointed, and we all spent the majority of the afternoon laughing. 

T and I had had lunch earlier with Daniela at Live, a raw food restaurant. I never thought that raw nachos would be a good idea, but sun dried corn tortillas, cashew cream, walnut crumble, salsa, avocado and other yummies convinced me otherwise. I also had a tempeh Reuben sandwich which was amazingly tasty and fresh. I inhaled it so fast I completely forgot about photos of it, or any of the rest of the food for that matter. Somewhere in the feeding frenzy, Daniela's lovely sister Claudia came and joined us fresh off the plane from London. 

We were lucky enough to meet up with Daniela again with her wonderful partner Andy later on that day for drinks. Pomegranate sangria anyone?

T & A by you.
D & C by you.

Daniela is a very talented actress, and very recently played an international assassin on The Border. She was absolutely amazing, and in my view deserves every success.

Beverages & Potatoes by you.

T and I made a visit to Grapefruit Moon for one of their TLT's (Tempeh, Lettuce and Tomato). It wasn't quite as good as I remember it, but the coffee and orangina were fantastic!

The UN Dinner by you.

Our UN summit at Vegetarian Haven of one Australian, one New Zealander, one Irishman, two Americans and two Canadians (otherwise known as Amelia, Joanne, Brad, Jeff, Daragh, me & T, although this photo has been cut off and I'm not in it! Why does blogger keep squashing/cutting off my photos? Help?). This was followed by a post-summit drink at a Belgian beer bar around the corner. 

Sarah, Gypsy & Charlie by you.

Staying and hanging out with the lovely Sarah, her very sweet partner Ron, and their animal companions including Gypsy and Charlie see here. It was one of the most wonderful feelings in the world to wake up with the end of our bed covered in animals contentedly purring/snoring.

And then it was time to Westjet it over to Vancouver. The gods were smiling on us for this airport trip, as an old workmate of Tim's was working on the check-in counter and he placed us in fantastic seats for the flight. More on Vancouver tomorrow.......

Cloudy by you.

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