Out for Lunch : The Wheat Sheaf Tavern

From what I've read, The Wheat Sheaf Tavern, located on the south west corner of Bathurst and King, is the oldest continually operating bar/restaurant in the city. It began operation in 1849, and rumor has it that at one time there was an underground tunnel connecting it to Fort York, [which was built in 1793, and according to the City of Toronto's website was "the birthplace of urban Toronto. It is best known as the location where the Battle of York came to its violent climax in 1813 during the War of 1812."] Seems those soldiers wanted access to their suds!

I also seem to recall going there as a teen and seeing an old sign that indicated that women were only welcome in the front room of the tavern ... not in the back room where the bar was. Of course this rule would have been in place way back when it was not proper for women to be in a bar.

This spring, The Wheat Sheaf has had scaffolding up all around it for exterior freshening up. It has recently came down and while it looks very nice from the outside, it basically didn't change much. We were wondering if the inside would have been renovated too. And found upon entering that it had not. Charmingly, there has been no attempt whatsoever to convert this place into something to appeal to the new fancy people who are moving into the neighbourhood in droves. There was an old guy perched on a bar stool and another using the payphone near the door. The waitress was a friendly middle aged women and the food we tried was good pub food. Remarkably good in fact. I had the fish sandwich and Nick had the fish and chips.

Eddie and the Big Bucket

I've mentioned that we use a charcoal burning barbecue.  Doing so, we have to be careful as they can become a fire hazard on a wooden deck.  Of course we never leave it unattended, but as an extra precaution, we keep a source of water close at hand while using it.

So with the first barbeque of the summer, Nick filled a dirty old bucket that we used around the yard transporting compost and such. It first entered our home as the container of a new kind of kitty litter we were trying out.

Well, I'm telling you ... you should have seen BoyCat's excitement over this new and abundant source of water!  He got more excited about it than I've ever seen him before. This bucket had him talking! He squawked and chirped about it for a week, as if he was trying to tell us, "Hey everybody, did you see all this water? Come on ... get some, there's plenty for all of us!"

Cooking With Nick : Guacamole and Nacho Casserole

Today we discovered something new! I had no idea that there were different kinds of avocados. I always thought the typical ones we got here, which are called Hass, was all there was in the world of avocados. These are the small wrinkled skin ones, but there are also these larger non-wrinkled skin ones! An online search indicates that they're called Sharwil and they're farmed in Guatemala.

Today Nick is making Guacamole with these Sharwil Avocados. Here is his method:

A Happy Sunday Morning

I would have to say that my favourite beverage is coffee.  It would be the thing I'd miss the most if stranded on a desert island.  I take it with a lot of milk and a little bit of sugar.

↑ Paper plates courtesy of ongoing kitchen renovations! ↑

This beautiful Sunday morning finds me treated to a trio of my favourite things ... The java as mentioned, the New York Times (that Nick goes out early to pick up every week, as they don't deliver it here and the shop only gets a few copies so you have to get there early to nab one), and my most preferred sandwich ... Smoked Salmon and cream cheese on a toasted bagel, served with fresh lemon, capers and thinly sliced onion. Love it!

Cooking With Nick : Penne Pasta with Grilled Vegetables

While Nick had the barbeque going the other day he popped on an extra scotch bonnet pepper and some 'shrooms, even if we weren't going to use them right away.

Those precooked veggies made their way into our lunch today.  I will eat pretty much whatever is being served, however am particularly pleased when pasta is on the menu for lunch!