City Walk: Kensington Market

Toronto is blessed with a neat part of town called Kensington Market, where you will find several streets with all kinds of shops and stalls selling fresh foods, funky mostly vintage clothes, cafes and restaurants.  It's a vibrant bustling colourful place, that we feel fortunate to experience often, as this is where we do the majority of our grocery shopping.  We walk there because we like to, but if we were to drive it would be crazy trying to find parking!   This means we go fairly frequently, because we can only carry so much home!

Here are some photos taken during today's trip.

We hadn't eaten when we arrived, so we first stopped at a Portuguese Restaurant called Amadeus, where we sat outdoors on their lovely patio, from where we could enjoy the myriad of interesting sights going on all around!  We had some calamari, which was excellent.  Although this place has been here forever, this was my first time ever going in, as our usual trips to the market are with one thing in mind ... hunting and gathering!  It was a fun experience and the food was good and very reasonably priced.

BBQ with family

We went to my sister and her bf's place for a bbq last night. There were two reasons to celebrate ... my cousin was in town, and my sis bought a house! She was practically my neighbour and will be moving to a new 'hood, so I'm sad about the moving, but happy for her, her bf, and their cool cat Columbo!

Archeological Dig at King and Bathurst

I went for a walk along King Street West, between Bathurst Street and Spadina. This is a stretch within "The Fashion District", though it might be a mystery as to why nowadays, as there is very little remaining to indicated it's onetime significance in the clothing industry.  That's because the area has changed tremendously in the past decade, going from a series of garment factories with not much else, (aside from a strip-club and a budget motel), to an area hosting the most chic of restaurants and fancy private clubs.

Not so long ago this was a place people who made things could venture after-hours, and gather all kinds of fabric remnants and trim that had been put to the curb for garbage pick-up by the garment manufacturers lining the street.  At night, it was a dark and quiet place back then, and one had to be careful of the shadows lurking in the lane-ways between buildings.  During the day, the street would be teaming with workers at the end of their shifts, heading home after a long day spent at the sewing machines.  During the spring and fall, when the weather was decent, a passer-by could hear the humming of the machines through open windows. Since all traces of this by-gone time are all gone now, I rely on a happy childhood memory to know this, as we had a beloved family friend who worked in a manikin warehouse in the area, and we visited him there.

Now this area has been completely transformed.  There is construction going on at several lots, with the building of some of Toronto's most expensive new condominium developments.  Some of them are incorporating the original old 'brick and beam' buildings into their design, while others are demolishing what was once there and building anew.

One such site, located at 621 King Street West, which until recently housed what was probably the last standing motel in downtown Toronto, called the Executive Motor Hotel, is slated to become one of the fanciest boutique style condos in the city, The Thomson Residences, built by Freed Development.

So on my walk this week I noticed that they have found something that appears to be of architectural significance on the building site.  When I got home I researched what had once been there.  Turns out it had been an estate built in 1850 and torn down sometime in the next hundred or so years.

A Barbecued Appetizer Idea : Cheese Toast

Often when we get the barbecue going, Nick begins by making this simple yet delicious appetizer, that we enjoy while the rest of the meal cooks. It's only bread, butter and cheese however this is an example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. The idea/method comes from his father, who used to make it for the family!

Method for Nick's Dad's Cheese Toast:

Use any type of bread and whatever cheese you have on hand, though cheeses that will melt work the best, such as Cheddar, Swiss, Gouda, Mozzarella or Brie. This time we used a large slice of sourdough bread and two small slices of rye, with Swiss and Gouda cheeses.

First toast one side of the bread by laying it directly on the hot grill.  Watch it closely as it can burn easily, depending on how much heat you have going on. 

Then take it off and butter the toasted side. 

Add your sliced cheese and return to the grill.  Put the cover down so the cheese will melt.  If you're using charcoal and it's pretty hot, try putting the toast around the edges of the grill, rather than directly over the coals.

Once the cheese is melted and the underside of the bread is toasted, remove from the grill, cut into pieces and enjoy.  Ok, you're probably thinking that this is so easy that it can't be amazing.  But it is ... the smoky flavour and the combination of textures is wonderful.  It's a finger-food sure to please any cheese lover! If you want to fancy it up for a party, you could offer some sweet chutney as a topping.

City Walk: Lunch on College Street

Yesterday we had a nice lunch of pasta and wine on College Street, on a patio of an Italian restaurant. Unfortunately, I don't remember the name, because we ended up there after a long walk. We had initially headed to the happening area on Ossington Avenue between Queen and Dundas Street, where I had previously been on a Friday night with my friend Annette. I wanted to show Nick what was there now, as he remembered the area when it was a dark strip of empty looking warehouses, drug-dealing and hookers. I had found the recently transformed stretch to be really fun and full of life.

Anyway, it turned out that this area was all-but-dead on a Saturday afternoon, so I guess it really only gets going at night. So, after having seen it, we kept walking and ended up on College Street.  We didn't mind at all though because this is an excellent neighbourhood for a nice Italian lunch (as it is also known as "Little Italy").