First Train Home

I really was not sure what to do with my weekend. On Friday, I finally started my immigration process with a lawyer. I signed a contract and it all seemed so official. I had tried not to think about all the paper work too much and concentrated on the King Street scene on my way from the lawyers office. All of sudden, it struck me. I had a lapse of complete discouragement. Why was I doing this? What if I had to leave next year? Toronto is so huge, I would never be able to even cover the known spots over the next year. This would be yet another project half started and half done. I actually didn't even care about not finishing. I cared more about not being able to do this a year from now.

I kept taking random street cars, probably subconciously hoping to stumble into a comforting little spot where I could just sit and calm down.

I found myself in Kensington Market, with all of its eccentric little shops. And then I found it. A cute little haven, tucked in a corner of bustling little hippie stores. It's call Hibiscus.

It's so easy to miss. And that's probably why I was so excited to find it. I sat in there and pulled out the 1000 page application form from a manilla envelope that my lawyer gave me and brought myself to go through them over a comforting cup of rice and asparagus soup. The soup itself sounds downright gross but it was warm, hearty and surprising tasty. An hour later, those papers did not look as intimidating or overwhelming and I knew that I would have to come here again. Where else would I find feel-good food and atmopshere for a mere $3.48?

The rest of the weekend was spent trying not to think about Monday, cleaning out my bedroom, pulling out my spring clothes and arranging them to look like a display rack at a vintage clothing store.

And speaking of vintage clothes, I found some cool vintage stores on Queen Street too yesterday. Vintage shopping opened up my eyes to some suprising discoveries:

- Better than vintage clothes were the vintage purses that I went crazy hunting for.

- A lot of the stuff I was drawn to were things that looked a lot like stuff my mother wore in her glory days. I beamed with pride, now certain that my mother was the shiz back in her hay day.

- I like shoulder pads.

- I'm only going to vintage shop from now on. Most of the time. When the mood strikes.

Immigration Status: It has begun.

Creamy Banana Sunday...with a side of grilled cheese

And so begins my new project of the year. (as opposed to old projects like running a mile everyday, intergrating vegetables into my diet and starting a Happy Book). I'm on a quest to find out the best of Toronto. I romanticised many a time about the idea of setting out early in the morning bright eyed and ready to stumble into quaint little shops and bistros boasting about how I "discovered" cheap cutsey places. I sadly let go of that notion when I discovered first hand that I'm a lazy ass in the morning and hence would not successfully be out of bed and ready until well into the afternoon hours. That coupled with the fact that I'm unbelievably awful with directions leads me to believe that I would just go circling around the block multiple times trying to "discover" Toronto and finally being so famished that I would give up and eat KFC. Delight.
So to make life easier and pleasant, I turned to google to tell me where I should begin my discoveries. And google spat out The Cupcake Shoppe.

BEST CUPCAKES IN TORONTO: The Cupcake Shoppe

Where: Yonge & Eglinton (approx subway) I totally thought this would be one of those really cute little coffee places where you would have a giant latte and a cupcake. Alas, it was actually just a shop.

Regardless, Mikhai, my partner-in-caffiene and I were super excited to go to the Cupcake Shoppe. And it did not dissappoint.
The cupcakes are actually really good. Scrumptious and creamy. They also have cute little names for their cupcakes. Mikhai picked The Crummie, which tastes NOTHING like its name. I picked Curious George because it reminded me of Jack Johnson and there's nothing chiller than eating a Curious George cupcake and listening to Jack Johnson on a sunny Toronto day.

Above is Mikhai all happy with her Crummie.
And then there's me with my Curious George and banana cream on my nose. Quite frankly, there's no other way to eat a cupcake.

BEST GRILLED CHEESE IN TORONTO: Bloor Street Diner
Where: Bay and Bloor
Here's something Google did not help me out with. My personal discovery. Actually, its really not much of a hidden gem to discover. Its right smack in the middle of Bay Street and its called Bloor Street Diner. Going there was a product of aimless walking hoping to "discover" something. Anyway, I got myself a grilled cheese sandwich, bistro style.

You have to see this.
My grilled cheese was probably the best I've ever tasted, came with thin crispy fries and a tiny little bottle of ketchup. None of those nasty ketchup sachets. Just look at how cute that bottle is! And trust me, best grilled cheese EVER!
And that folks, was this weekend's episode of Karen's Toronto Adventures.
Note to be made about the aimless walking. Although, I did walk around completely unaware of where I was for about an hour, Toronto did not fail to dissappoint. I got some great shots of the The Annex. So until next time...

Welcome to Tout Toronto!

So here it is! My new blog!

First off, I want to thank all of you for taking the time to read my posts. All of your comments and messages are really what made me want to write and look for things to write about. In fact, it is what has lead me to the making of this blog.

I've always loved just taking the subway by myself and going to the city for no reason at all. There are so many incredible things to see and experience down there. It kind of makes you forget everything and you just lose yourself in the little streets and stores. It's the only place where I can be completely on my own and not feel alone.

So I decided that I'm going to share that with you in this blog. We will try to cover everything from museums to markets, concerts to churches, coffeeshops to Chinatown, bars on Bloor, sushi on Spadina, Yorkville, Yonge and everything in between. That's a lot and let's face it, I probably won't get to do it all. But this blog is not the Yellow Pages of Toronto. It's just a diary of a twentysomething who decides to spend weekends escaping on treasure hunts in the city. Friends are welcome. Actually, friends are strongly encouraged.

A little sidenote on my immigration issues. There is a good chance I won't be leaving next year. However, there is also a slim chance that I might. In either case, I think its time I got to know Toronto a little better.

So, enjoy! My post of my first weekend excursion will be coming soon! Stay tuned :)