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.