An Amazing Breakfast at Tubbie’s and Lunch with Relatives at Hot Peppers in Scarborough, Ontario

Tuesday, September 10, 2024

Woodbridge and Scarborough, Ontario

An Amazing Breakfast at Tubbie’s and Lunch with Relatives at Hot Peppers in Scarborough, Ontario

It is our last full day in Canada and, naturally, we liked to make the most of it. It started off beautifully with Sylvia informing us that we wanted to take us out for breakfast. Now Llew had already eaten his “Daily Special”—toast with preserves and coffee. But I had not eaten yet…so when Sylvia made her offer, I was quite happy to take her up on it. Llew declined but when we twisted his arm, he agreed to come along with us for the company. And so off we went.

Breakfast at Tubbie’s:

The three of us made our way into Tubbie’s (a very appropriately named place) if one went by the size of the portions being served to the customers. Sylvia told us that it is a superb place for breakfast and one that she often took her kids to when they were growing up. It reminded me very much of IKEA in his menu and its portion size. I could not resist the waffles (as they would be the last I would have, probably, before my return to India). Sylvia decided to order a mimosa (as it made her feel as if she were on a cruise, she said!), I had a hot chocolate and Llew had a decaff Americano. Because he had already eaten breakfast, he ordered nothing else, but I went for the waffles with apple-cinnamon compote (as I had already had them with strawberries on a couple of occasions), whipped cream and maple syrup. They were delicious. Sylvia chose pancakes but hardly had two bites of them and was done! In the end, it was not so much what we chose or what we ate but our knowledge of the fact that all good things must come to an end and that our lovely stay with Sylvia in Canada would soon come to a close. Tomorrow, at this time, we’d be in a cab and on our way to Pearson Airport for the start of Phase Five (the final phase) of our North American travels. We were full to bursting when we got up to leave and the thought of having yet another big meal in store for us was somewhat daunting.

Meeting a Long-Lost Cousin and Lunching with Him and His Family:

When we returned to Sylvia’s home, we had barely half an hour to get ourselves organized for the next part of our day—a meeting with one of my Mum’s long-lost relatives. It was purely by chance that I had inquired of my own cousin, Lancy, just a few days ago, as to whether or not he is in touch with Alex, my late Mum Edith’s cousin, as I remembered that they had once worked together. When Lancy told me that he still had Alex’s number, I requested him to find out if Alex would be open to meeting us.

I was absolutely delighted when Alex called, two days ago, to introduce himself to me again and to invite us very warmly to his home. As I had not seen him in ages, I was really keen to make the effort to take public transport to his place. But Alex was kind enough to save us that trouble and offered to come over to Sylvia’s in Woodbridge to pick us up. Accordingly, we made plans to see him and his wife, Lidwyn (Liddy), at their home and since Alex suggested that we have lunch with them, we knew the rest of our day was spoken for.

Alex did arrive on schedule, we were ready for him and with Sylvia also accompanying us, off we went in his car to Scarborough. It was a drive of about an hour, but we spent the entire time chatting about old times. I was able to ask Alex many questions about the relationship between my mother and him. He explained to me that his late father Peter (also known as Babusha) was my late mother Edith’s first cousin. Their mothers (i.e. my grandmother Valerie and his grandmother Machu) were sisters. Peter was Machu’s son. Her other children were Johnny, Daisy and Robert. I remembered Daily and Robert well as my mother was very close to them. That made Alex my Mum’s second cousin and it would make Alex and me third cousins! Still, despite the somewhat distant connection, I was delighted to make contact with someone from my Mum’s side of the family as I have a large cohort of cousins (to whom I am still very close) on my Dad’s side but just a handful of folks on my Mum’s side.

A Lovely Natter in Alex’s Home in Scarborough:

When we arrived at Alex’s place, we were re-introduced to his wife, Liddy, whom I had also last seen at least fifteen years ago (when my Mother was an a visit to Canada with us). I was also pleased to see that Alex had invited my cousin Lancy and his wife, Ilene, too for lunch. After a very lovely natter, first in their living room and later in their fully-finished basement with its cozy bar and den, we had drinks and an array of nibbles that Liddy put out. We also took a lot of pictures and generally had a grand time. But, after Alex made reservations at a local Chinese restaurant for us to go out and eat, we left, about two hours later.

Lunch at Hot Peppers Chinese Restaurant:

And so, the whole lot of us landed up at a modest Chinese restaurant called Hot Peppers which was just a ten minute drive away. Alex knew the manager well and seemed like a regular in the place. We left all the ordering to him and, in his experienced hands, we had an array of appetizers followed by a range of mains. There was something for everyone as we had fish, chicken, pork, beef, shrimp, vegetables, and really nice beignets with chocolate sauce for dessert. The food was really tasty and with all the nattering and the laughter at the table, we had ourselves a really lovely afternoon. Fortunately, at the end of it, Lancy and Ilene offered to drop us home as we were not too far en route to their place—this saved Alex the trouble of dropping us back.

And so, our last full day in Canada came to an end. In fact, Ryan actually found the time to take me to Michael’s, the craft store, as I needed to buy some colored candles and fall silk flowers—I was very pleased that I found them quite easily.

Watching the Presidential Debate at Ryan’s House:

spent the rest of the evening, packing all our possessions (there wasn’t much to pack as we had just a small backpack each). But then, we knew that the much looked forward-to debate was later in the evening—at 9.00 pm. It was at this point that we discovered that Sylvia’s TV was not working as her entire internet system was down.

so, we had no choice but to go to Ryan’s place as we were hell bent on watching the debate between Trump and Harris. Ten minutes later, we were at Ryan’s place, poised in front of his TV and also getting a nice tour of his home. The debate went off very well. I have to say that knowing how awful a speaker Trump is usually, I was amazed at how well he had been prepped and how superbly he conducted himself. Harris, of course, was her usual assured self. She was articulate, elegant, confident and her responses were filled with solid material—not fluff.

soon as the debate ended, Ryan dropped us back to his mother’s place and we wished each other goodnight and went to bed—but not before setting our alarms as we had a fairly early start for the boarding of our flight to New York early tomorrow.

Until tomorrow…cheerio.

Exploring Downtown Toronto’s Harbor Front, Vietnamese Lunch near Chinatown, Afternoon Tea with a College Classmate, Slap-Up Dinner at Moxie’s in Vaughn

Monday, September 9, 2024

Downtown Toronto, Canada

Exploring Downtown Toronto’s Harbor Front, Vietnamese Lunch near Chinatown, Afternoon Tea with a College Classmate, Slap-Up Dinner at Moxie’s in Vaughn

Considering we were on our second-last day in Canada with nothing until the evening on our itinerary, I suggested to Llew that we spend the day in the city. He was more than happy to comply and, after breakfast, we set out on our own to discover parts of the city with which we were unfamiliar. I used Lonely Planet and Google to figure out the places to which we should head and, accordingly, we made our plans.

Taking Public Transport to the City:

Of course, getting to the city from Woodbridge, where we are located, is a challenge in itself as it is very far away—it’s not just the distance, but the time it takes to get to the city as well as the expense that is daunting. It involves taking an Uber to the Subway station. This is a good 20 minutes’ away by car. Then, there is the long subway ride as the subway station is, in fact, the very last stop on the line. And, once we get off the Subway in the city, we still have to walk or take a bus to wherever we wish to go. Thankfully, we were not required to go through this commute daily—or it would be very off-putting

, we called for the Uber and made our way to the subway stop and then figured out where and how to buy our tickets and board our train, The thing about subway systems is that they are basically the same all over the world. So, if you have used a subway service in one country, you are more than familiar with the drill. It did not take us long to find our platform and our train and we were on our way. However, once we got off the subway station, we discovered that the place to which we were headed (Kensington Street Market)—was, in fact, too far to walk to. We’d actually have to take a bus to get there! So, we asked around and found out that there was a bus outside the subway station that we could take. We rode on it for about ten minutes and, finally, finally, we were at our destination! Yes, indeed, it was a huge production!

Exploring Kensington Street Market:

Kensington Market is hopping and heaving, it appears, at the weekends. Basically, ‘Market’ is a bit of a misnomer—it is more of an area or a locality. It comprises of a couple of side streets (off Spadina), that is filled with interesting stores that appeal to very young and very hip, tastes. There are vintage clothing boutiques, music stores, one-of-a-kind craftsy designer shops selling jewelry and home décor (ceramics, paintings, etc.) and a few restaurants and bars which, I imagine, would be great fun to frequent in the dark. However, on a Monday morning, the place was as dead as a dodo! There was absolutely no one there and I mean no one. It was after 11.00 am when we arrived there, but most of the shops were only just opening and so many of the eateries were still closed. We soon realized that we had made a mistake heading to this place as there was absolutely nothing of any interest to us.

Heading to the Harbor Front:

On the other hand, we did want to salvage our day—especially as we had spent half the day getting to the city! So, on an impulse, I suggested to Llew that we go to the Harbor Front—as this was also featured as one of the attractions of the city. Llew thought it made sense.

So, off we went, on another bus going downtown, in the direction of the Harbor. We rode all down the length of Spadina which is the heart of Chinatown. It gave me the idea that we ought to come back to this part of the city later for lunch. The conductor on the bus was very helpful and told us exactly where to get off.

Once we were at the Harbor Front, on a very cloudy, highly overcast day, when there was a pleasant nip in the air (and we were suitably attired, so not uncomfortable at all), we found ourselves surrounded by skyscrapers, while a few blocks ahead of us, we could already see the water and the many craft in the harbor.

The Promenade was great to walk along at a time when there was hardly another soul out there. We passed by the varied watercraft and even saw a seaplane take off. Boats, yachts, etc, of varied style and size bobbed or were buoyed in the water. As we reached the end of the promenade, we realized that, on the other side, were beautiful perennial gardens that had clearly demarcated walking paths through them. Of course, then we had to go through them and explore the gardens. I was delighted for there were all sorts of recognizable autumnal flowers and plants that I do not see in India—black-eyed Susan, purple coneflower, butterfly bush, Autumn Joy Sedum, Joe Pye weed, the last of the day-lillies, lots of astilbe and plenty of hosta of varied shade and leaf size and even the last roses of summer. On reading a sign put up at the park, I discovered that the entire garden had been designed around the six movements of a sonata by J.S. Bach. It was quite innovative indeed and very creatively conceived with paths that curved tightly like a nautilus shell or offered places to pause under shady trees which sported strategically-placed benches. It was definitely the most delightful part of our day.

When we had covered the entire pavement garden, we crossed the main road and spying a Walgreens, decided to go in there for a quick browse We were there for about fifteen minutes before Llew told me that he felt hungry and wanted to go out in search of lunch. I suggested we get on the same bus and alight near our subway station and find a place there for Vietnamese food as I felt a great desire to eat a steaming bowl of Pho.

Lunch In Chinatown:

As it turned out, we found a bus that would take us back to our subway stop and not too far from it, we actually found a Vietnamese eatery that was called Vietnamese Happy Noodle! A quick look at the menu proclaimed that it sold Pho! I was very excited indeed. Llew and I settled down to study the menu and, I found to my even greater delight, that there was pho and another one of my favorite things in the world to eat—Singaporean Curried Laksa. So, of course, I had to order that too. Llew and I then split the two bowls between the two of us. I have to say that although we were both very hungry and had done a lot of walking and had built up an appetite, the bowls were so gigantic that we could barely manage to eat half of each bowl. Naturally, we requested the rest packed up for us to be carried away in doggie bags! And with those treasures under our arms, we walked back to the subway station and made the reverse journey home.

We were supposed to reach home by 4.00 pm as my friend Delilah and her husband were expected to come and see us. And we did indeed reach my 4.00 pm.

Afternoon Tea with Delilah and Francisco:

Not even half an hour after we reached Woodbridge, Delilah and Frisco appeared at our door and were all set to take us out for Afternoon Tea. Delilah’s daughter had identified a really nice coffee shop where we could sit quietly and catch up. It turned out to be a Turkish place called Cappadocia Coffee Shop and indeed, it was the perfect choice of place. For one thing, it was empty, for another, we could chat and sit for as long as we liked without feeling the pressure of having to leave soon and thirdly, we had the very attentive care of a female waitress who took our order. In the end, in addition to tea and coffee, we chose to share a Middle Eastern dessert called Kunafa, which is also one of my favorite things to eat. While Llew is familiar with it, the other two had never heard of it but were willing to try it. And that was what we did. We ordered kunafa and then shared it. Everyone knows that it is a very rich dessert with varying textures and flavors. Made with very fine strands like vermicelli which is almost fried, a flat pancake is sandwiched with molten mozzarella cheese. The whole thing is then soaked in a syrup flavored with orange blossom honey and sprinkled with toasted pistachio nuts. If it sounds super-rich, it’s because that’s what it is. Fortunately, everyone enjoyed it very much and as we chatted about everything under the sun, we had a really lovely two hours together.

Delilah and Francisco then dropped us back to Woodbridge where we had another evening’s plan ahead of us. We were taking our hostess Sylvia, her son Ryan and his wife Sharon, for dinner as a way of saying Thank you to her for her hospitality to us and to Ryan and Sharon chauffeuring us all over the place throughout the length of our stay in Woodbridge. But first, as we had a little time ahead of us before dinner, we switched on the TV to find out that the Presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will be on tomorrow. As we did not wish to miss it, we also listened to what the talking heads had to say about tomorrow’s show.

at Moxie’s with Close Friends:

We told our guests to choose the place at which they would like to eat as we are not familiar with the local possibilities. Sylvia initially thought about Earl’s, a fine dining place in Vaughn known for its steaks. However, when we entered, we were told that there was a wait of at least 40 minutes. Now that was much too long for us to wait for our dinner and so we had to think of another place. Fortunately, Moxie’s was in the same complex. And so, that was where we went. Moxie’s is also a fine dining place but much less crowded and quiet enough for us to have a lovely quiet meal together.

The meal was just lovely except for one small glitch. We started off with drinks for the table and then ordered. We had ⁠Sweet Potato Fries by way of an appetizer and then ordered our Mains: Tuna Poke Bowl (Sharon), ⁠Sirloin Steak with Mashed Potatoes and Roasted Vegetables (Llew and Sylvia), ⁠Soup (Boston Clam Chowder), Salad (Mixed Strawberry Salad) with baguette (Me) and ⁠Steak Frites (with chimichurri sauce for Ryan. For dessert, we dug our spoons into a White Chocolate Brownie with vanilla ice-cream topped with chocolate sauce and whipped cream. Sooooo Goooood! The glitch came in the form of fried quinoa sprinkled over my strawberry salad which was really hard (although it was meant to be crisp) and felt like tiny pebbles in my mouth. They did a real number on my teeth and, of course, I could not eat my salad. My soup, however, was very good and I was very grateful at the opportunity to eat New England Clam Chowder which is also one of my favorite things to eat. So, food-wise, you can see that I really enjoyed a number of my favorite items—and all on one single day! How lucky can one gal get?

All that was left for us, after a fun meal, was to get back home and go straight to bed. We thanked Ryan and Sharon for all their help in driving us all over the place and then we went down to the basement to bed.

Until tomorrow…cheerio.

A Day Spent Getting my Art Fix! In the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario) and a Posh Italian Meal with Friends in Vaughn

Friday, September 6, 2024

Toronto, Canada

A Day Spent Getting my Art Fix! In the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario) and a Posh Italian Meal with Friends in Vaughn

Today was another fantastic day in Toronto, Canada. A lot of folks ask me what I miss about living in India. This trip made me realize what I do miss: I miss driving; I miss enjoying Sunday Mass especially the good sermons we used to get from the Jesuit professor-priests at my parish in Fairfield, Connecticut; I miss the drama of the changing of the seasons; I miss having easy access to interior decorating supplies the way I can find so easily in Michael’s, Home Goods. Marshalls or TJ Maxx. But, over and above all these, I miss access to world-class Art (especially the Old Masters). So, on a day like this, when we had nothing really planned until the evening, it was my day to get my Art Fix—to feast my eyes (indeed, all my senses) on the art collection at the Art Gallery of Ontario (known simply as the AGO).

Journey from Whitby to Toronto:

So, our day began in my cousin Lancy’s home in Whitby, where we had spent one night, and where we became aware that while we were having a lazy lie-in downstairs in our basement apartment, Lancy and his wife, Ilene, had woken up at the crack of dawn and were hard at work making paanpaleys for us. These are typically Manglorean rice crepes that are eaten usually for breakfast. To accompany them, they had ground coconut chutney. You can just imagine what a terrific breakfast we had.

After breakfast, Lancy took us all around his home and showed us his brilliant handiwork. He is a DIY Ace and his home is filled with the things he has made himself—e.g. an entire set of oak furniture; a large wall clock that looks like a leather wrist-watch complete with strap and buckle, the steps and the patio leading to their back garden. His craftsmanship is most impressive. But soon, it was time for us to pack up and say goodbye to them and their warmth and hospitality. When we realized that it would take them over an hour to drop us by car to Toronto (where we were headed to spend the day), we told them that if they dropped us at the nearest GO (commuter train) station, we could take the train in and save them the journey back and forth. They were actually quite pleased that we offered to find our own way into the city.

So that was what they did. After a lovely 20 minute drive through some of the sweetest, prettiest suburban hamlets, we arrived at Whitby train station. There, we obtained tickets from the vending machine, through the assistance of a staff member, and ten minutes later, we were on our way. It was a very pleasant ride, for the most part, skirting the banks of Lake Ontario. We also had wifi on the double-decker train. Everything was exceedingly civilized and a real pleasure to travel. As this is the first time that we do not have our car in Toronto, we are discovering local commuter possibilities and we are very impressed by them. About 45 minutes later, we were entering the city, as the first high-rise buildings came into view. About five minutes later, we pulled into Central Station, I had used the wifi on the train to find out how we could get from Central Station to the AGO (which was our first stop) and discovered that we could use the subway very easily.

So, at Central Station, we left the commuter train platforms behind us and followed directions to the subway. At the subway stop, I asked the ticket dispenser for directions and he very clearly told me where to go, which subway train to take and at which stop we were to alight. We bought our tickets and followed his instructions. In less than ten minutes, we were at West Dundas Station and following my GPS, we easily arrived at the AGO, having walked through the city for a couple of blocks. There, I was given a free ticket through my Met ID card while Llew had to purchase one to get in ($30).

Exploring the AGO:

For the next few hours, we were fully enthralled by the art collection contained within this world-class museum and art gallery. We started off at the European Art collection and discovered it to be small, but significant. Almost every canvas was by an Old Master. And so, we saw works by Rembrandt, Tintoretto, Renoir, ⁠Anthony van Dyke, ⁠Rubens, ⁠George de la Tour, Bernini, Carpeau, Gainsborough, Boucher, Jean-Baptiste Simeon-Chardin, Degas, ⁠Van Gogh, William Waterhouse, ⁠Lyall, as well as indigenous Canadian artists such as ⁠Belacourt, ⁠Kent Monkhouse ⁠and Norval Morrisseau. It was just glorious!

Lunch with our Friend, Samita:

As I knew we would be in Toronto today, I had gotten in touch with my friend, Dr, Samita Nandy, who lives between Canada, India and Portugal. We had first met more than 15 years ago at a conference when we had both presented papers in Lisbon, Portugal. Our friendship has thrived and survived and now that she lives for part of the year in Bombay, we meet quite often in India too. She was delighted to meet us in Toronto and readily agreed to come to the AGO so that we could have lunch together.

And so we sat at a pizzeria, just outside the AGO, at a place called ‘Pizzaiola’ where we ordered and shared a large pepperoni pizza and washed it down with cold Cokes. Samita was great company and as we told her all about Chriselle’s wedding and our travels, the lunch hour passed by, our pizza was consumed, she was ready to move on and we were ready to return to the museum.

Another Round of Museum Delights:

Back inside the museum, we were rested enough to begin our second round of artistic delights. We took a guided tour with a docent named Lynne who gave us a detailed walk-through in a special exhibition entitled, ‘Moments in Modernism”. It was a wonderful chance for us to see the work of leading lights such as ⁠Andy Warhol, ⁠Mark Rothko and ⁠Chuck Close. Of course, I took many photographs and found myself in heaven, surrounded by such great art.

Then, when we’d had our share of wonderful musing in a terrific museum, we were ready to hit the road again, reverse our journey and take the subway directly back to the last stop--Vaughn Metro Park, from where we took an Uber to return to Sylvia’s home in Woodbridge—the Uber journey took about 20 minutes and cost us about $20.

Yes, both Llew and I were quite tired by our eventful day and were quite happy to get a cuppa, some rest, our showers and some TV before we were ready for our evening’s appointment.

Dinner with Close Friends in Vaughn:

I was definitely looking forward to dinner this evening, For one thing, it is such a long time since I have met our friends, Edwin and Christine, that I was really eager to catch up with them. Secondly, I am very fond of them, really enjoy their company and find them to be very stimulating in their outlook and interests Thirdly, I always fondly recall the wonderful time we’d had when they lived in Dubai, at least 35 years ago, when they had been the epitome of hospitality to Llew and me. This evening too, they were treating us to dinner and had chosen a place close to us—so that we did not have to deal with public transport to get to them.

Accordingly, Edwin and Christine arrived at Sylvia’s place. We did not lose much time over pleasantries, but got going pretty soon in their car. They had chosen an Italian place called ‘Nacosto’ in Vaughn and since Italian is my favorite cuisine in the whole world, I was simply delighted. We shared a bottle of Cabernet at the table (I had a margarita in the interest of avoiding my sulphuric allergy) and had ⁠Roasted Artichoke Hearts for an appetizer. Needless to say, these were simply delectable and set the tone very well for the rest of our meal which was simply joyous. We decided to order a whole lot of Mains and share them—this way we’d have a kind of Tasting Menu and everyone could tuck into something they liked. And so we ate Gnocchi with Bolognese, ⁠Pappardelle pasta with Pork Cheeks Ragu, ⁠Linguine with Seafood (clams, mussels, shrimp, lobster), Tagliatelle with Mushroom Sauce—all divine. For dessert, we shared ⁠Tiramisu (served rather dramatically with a lit sparkler in it) and Donuts with Salted Caramel, Chocolate Sauce and Lemon Curd. I have often sat back at the end of these meals and wondered, How will I ever go back to eating normal meals again?????

Throughout the meal, we chatted, as we always do, about old times, their kids, Sylvia and our kids, Chriselle’s wedding, etc. There is never a dearth of topics to tackle and the conversation was avid and interesting. But, sadly, at the end of the day (literally!), we had to get home and we were driven back to Sylvia’s. There, we said our long goodbyes and called it a night after what had been a truly splendid day for me.

Until tomorrow…cheerio.