Ticking Off the Toronto Bucket List: Week #21 & 22

HELLLO!

Gosh, it's been so long since I've updated you on my bucket list!

Well folks, I'm done. Actually, I'm technically not done, but I finished as many activities and visited as many places that time and my wallet allowed! Week 21 and 22 are now a complete blur, so I'm just going to have to bunch them together! Is that alright with you?

I have finally said farewell to Toronto. To be completely honest with you, I felt as though I had broken up with a boyfriend the day I left the city. I thought I was okay until I realized that I no longer could walk out my door and wander down to Kensington, or go stroll in Trinity Bellwoods Park. I felt as though someone had left me. Toronto was such a big part of my life. It allowed me to really grow as an individual and opened my eyes to so many different things. However, now is not the time for reflection! I'll save that for another post!

My last two weeks in Toronto were all about seeing things I haven't seen, hanging out with friends that I won't see again for a long time, and visiting my beloved spots!

Enjoy!

The Dakota Tavern 

Bluegrass Brunch 

http://www.thedakotatavern.com/

Every Sunday 11am-3pm, except for Long Weekends! They go fishing! 

I'm not sure if I have mentioned the Bluegrass Brunch at the Dakota Tavern before so I thought I'd tell you about it even though it wasn't on my list! Since I love the Dakota so much, and eating brunch there is so awesome, I just had to visit it one last time. 

If you haven't been to the Dakota Tavern at Ossington & Dundas, you should. It's a Toronto music venue that everyone should go to! I've seen the best live music there, and it makes my heart ache knowing I won't be able to see more shows here! Maybe when I visit again? It has the best atmosphere. Very relaxed, and warm. Everyone there is friendly. The beer is great and the decor really does make you feel like you're in a tavern. The twinkle lights are my favourite. I have so many fond memories from the Dakota, please go here! 

Anyway, brunch is all you can eat! They take you to your seat, and basically just start bringing you food. You don't need to order. With your meal you get: pancakes, sausages, potatoes, scrambled eggs, a fruit bowl, orange juice, coffee/tea! All you can eat!!! AND you get to watch a great Bluegrass band play while you're eating. It's amazing. When you're finished with your meal, you can ask for more of anything. The service is swell, but don't expect quick service when it's busy! Those girls are workin the bums off! 

Great times. I love the Dakota. Enough said. 

Dutch Dreams Ice Cream
http://www.blogto.com/restaurants/dutchdreams
79 Vaughn Road

This place is BUSY! Great for a summer's night with the ladies, which is exactly what I did!

Great selection of flavours, great decor. There was some seating at the back, but we decided to enjoy our ice cream outside beneath the stars. I'd recommend visiting this popular ice cream parlour!

Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO)

Part Two

I first visited the AGO during Week #18, during their free Wednesday night program, and I decided to visit one more time! I didn't have a chance to finish the entire gallery the first time, so I had to go back! 

This time I discovered, my now, favourite Canadian artists. 

George A. Reid

What I love about George is how real his paintings look. From far away they look like they are popping out at you. I couldn't take my eyes off his paintings. Now, I don't know much about art, but what I do know is that Mr. Reid paints the 'everyday life'. It's wonderful. One particular painting of his called "Gossip" really got to me. It's a wonderful portrait of two women, just hanging around gossiping. When you look at it really closely, you see all the subtle details he adds in with the curtains, the women's eyes, their expression, the body language. Everything was wonderful.

William Kurelek

I loved his attention to detail. The colours were so bright and lovely. The detailing in his art is spot on. He paints with Canada in mind, and I really appreciated that about him. That's the sense that I felt when looking at his work at least. I especially loved the ones which depicted winter in small town Canada.

The AGO is a must for art lovers. I really enjoyed roaming around and seeing all the art that Canada has to offer :) Check it out!

The CNE a.k.a The EX

http://www.theex.com/

Have you ever wondered what deep fried butter tasted like? Or anything deep fried for that matter? Well, you should go to the Ex. Now, the Ex isn't only about eating (actually it kinda is), but it's also about going on rides, playing games, and eating your weight in anything that is coated batter. 

As a kid growing up in Cambridge I always heard about The Ex, but I never actually got to go. It's held at Toronto's Exhibition Place, happens every year at the end of the summer, and is $5 to attend after 5pm, which is what I did! I would only recommend visiting in the evening, but if you must, during the day is okay too! 

I visited the Ex with a lovely lady who showed me the tricks of the trade. She knew where to go, explained what games were worth playing, showed me what rides were good, and most of all, knew where to get food. 

We ate a beaver tail (Classic Canadian treat)

Deep Fried Cheese Curds (not bad!)

Deep Fried Mars Bars!!!! (SO GOOD!)

Now, we could have tried a lot more deep fried treats, but our bodies probably would have hated us. They had deep fried cheese burgers, butter, coco cola? Strange. 

Anyway, we visited some animals (the pigs were adorable), played a round of BINGO (we lost, but that's okay!), watched people go on rides, shared some laughs, it was a lovely night :) I'd recommend visiting the Ex! Oh, and you MUST try the Mars Bars! 

Luna Cafe 

181 Dovercourt [Beaconsfield Village] 

So, I visited Luna Cafe for brunch! Luna was not on my list but it turned out that Saving Grace was closed for vacation, Luna was the next best thing! 

Turned out Luna's brunch was just as good as Saving Grace! It's located on a cute quiet corner just north of Queen Street West in Beaconsfield Village. Cute interior, and nice patio. Since it was a lovely summer's day, we sat on the patio. Now, the service is alright. It's pretty slow (they have 2 people working), and they aren't the MOST pleasant, but the food was pretty awesome! Their french toast was amazing with caramelized pears on top, and their breakfast wrap with sun-dried tomato pesto was delicious!

I would definitely go back here for the french toast!! 

BUT I still need to try Saving Grace. I'm not sure if I can leave Toronto completely without having tried Saving Grace. *sigh*

Casa Loma 

http://www.casaloma.org/

Now, I have lived about a 10min walk away from Casa Loma the entire time I've been living in Toronto. I used to run up and down the Casa Loma steps when I was "working out", I've gone for walks around that neighbourhood, I'd see it everyday when I'd walk to and from the subway. Basically, Casa Loma was a big part of my everyday life in Toronto. So, the day I moved out of my apartment, I decided to visit with my mom! 

The history of Casa Loma is a bit to much to write out, but I'll give you the cliff notes:

- Guy has lots of money, (1st one to bring electricity to Toronto)

- Guy builds a HUGE home that looks like a castle which sits on a hill overlooking Toronto's Annex and beyond

- The interior is insane, posh, extravagant, and everything in between

- Guy looses his fortune, goes bankrupt, died living in his chauffer's home.

Lots went on at Casa Loma, and I'd recommend googling it to find out more. I would recommend visiting the castle though, it's quite beautiful inside, and it's so strange to think that someone actually thought he was worthy enough of building such an extravagant home! When the city of Toronto only had 200 phones in the entire city, Casa Loma had 50! His personal bathroom was equipped with a 'modern' shower, bathtub AND a toilet. Talk about loaded! 

Here are some shots from the inside :) 

It's a self-guided tour. I'd recommend visiting :) 

The Hub Coffee House and Locavorium 

1028 Shaw Street 

Lovely little place! It's tucked away amongst houses near the intersection of Ossington and Dupont. 

Loved the sandwiches here. They look so simple, but are so very tasty! I also really enjoyed their iced tea, and my friend said the latte was also quite nice ;) 

What I loved about this place was how relaxed it was, and how at home I felt. Maybe it's because it's amongst homes that it didn't feel like it was a regular coffee shop. It felt like someone just opened up their home, and were serving some snacks and drinks. Also, we saw a man with a parrot! How random and awesome is that?!?

They offer wifi, and there is patio space, as well as indoor seating! I'd say it's a great place to come to work, meet with friends, or even just stop by to read the paper. You can do it all here. Very comfortable spot! Oh, and their cookies are a $1 and are very good! Healthy too! I forget what's in them, but I remember them being good for me, even with the chocolate chips :) 

5/5 Smiles! 

----

So that's it!!! 

Doesn't seem like I did a lot, but I must say, as much as I wanted to complete the list, my heart really wanted to visit some of my favourite spots again. I had to go back to Moonbean, Saving Gigi and Ella's Uncle. I went for walks around The Annex, Kensington and Trinity Bellwoods. It was grand :) 

I'll probably need to reflect on my time in Toronto soon, and when I do I'll make some Top 5 lists for those hoping to explore Toronto in a less "touristy" way. Or maybe you've just moved to Toronto and need some advice on where to go. I can help you with that :) 

You can take the girl out of Toronto, but you can't take the Toronto out of the girl :) 

- Monica 

P.S There is more to come... this isn't the end of my Toronto blogs just yet! I still need to post about some more coffee shops I visited months ago!

P.S.S I leave for Ireland in a week!! 

Ticking Off the Toronto Bucket List: Week #20

Wow guys...I've made it to Week #20! It's incredible! I have roughly 2 weeks left in Toronto, so just wait until you see the posts for weeks 21 and 22!! They will be jammed packed with Toronto goodness.

Now, this week I visited a lot of coffee shops. Hopefully you guys aren't sick of those posts. It's just a duty that I need to fulfill. My Dad says that "There is no life without coffee". Therefore, I need to respect his belief and continue to discover new places in order to live my life to the fullest :)

Anyway, I finally visited St. Lawrence Market so that was something different :)

So here it goes!

Bulldog Coffee 

89 Granby Street 

http://www.bulldogtoronto.com/home.htm

Oh Bulldog. I've been afraid to visit you!! I have heard that Bulldog Coffee is "the best coffee joint" in town, but I was very skeptical. I'm not sure if you have noticed... but I've been to many different coffee shops in Toronto, so I felt like it had a lot of hype to live up to. Now, I've also heard that the owner is a bit of a "meanie" and that the stuff aren't the greatest. So, I was a little nervous. But, I decided to face my fears and try it out. 

Bulldog Coffee is located in the Gay District, near College and Yonge. Not a far walk from College station. It's just tucked away into a side street. It was alright. Not a terrible place, but not a place that I would want to visit again. The staff was pleasant. The menu was alright. No brewed coffee though, which is fine for me, but not fine for many that I witnessed coming to the shop. Not all coffee places offer brewed coffee, so I totally understand. Anywho, I had a latte. It was nice :) Just a standard latte. Good form, nice art ;) 

There isn't any wi-fi. So it's not a "students go here to study place". It's more of a "professions" type place. I wouldn't recommend it for studying. It's more of a small chat, read the paper and go type vibe. I wouldn't come back here again, but if I'm in the neighbourhood I might. 

Good For: Reading the paper while drinking a nice latte, meeting up with co-workers/family

Not Good For: Studying, students, etc. 

3/5 Smiles! 

St. Lawrence Market 

http://www.stlawrencemarket.com/

Saturday Morning Market! 

Opens at 5am! Though, I was not there for 5am. More like 7:30am. 

I'll try to keep this one short. 

More expensive than Kensington Market or Koreatown. However, the produce is from local farmers who are coming from outside of the city. So it's all fresh and lovely. Though, it's more expensive than St. Jacob's Market in St.Jacob's Ontario, and I blame this on the fact that it's in Toronto. There is no other reason. Plus, St. Lawrence is located in a more "posh" part of Toronto. 

Great view of the city! Check out that Flat Iron building! 

Look at all the Butter Tarts!!!!!  

Lots of things to choose from, and the South Market (which is the building pictured above) has lots to see inside. The South Market is open throughout the week, whereas the North Market (with all the farmers) is only open Saturdays. 

South Market

St. Lawrence is definitely a place to visit as a tourist and occasionally as a local. However, I'm more of a Kensington Market kind of girl... 

Broadview Espresso 

817 Broadview Ave

http://broadviewespresso.com/

I decided to visit the Danforth once again, but this time to a little coffee place near Broadview Station. It's a cute place. Pretty homey feeling. Coffee was nice and the cookie satisfied my hunger. The people were very much Danforth residents, making it feel as though I wasn't really in Toronto. This place seems to attract the "older than 40 crowd", with a few 30 somethings here and there. It's located on the Danforth, so I'm not that surprised. It's not in the heart of downtown where all the "young people" are located. 

Seating was really decent. Some window seats, a few tables and chairs, two comfy arm chairs. Not a place I would study or do work in though... 

In all, it was nice.

Good For: Reading your favourite book, meeting up with the locals, 

3.5/5 Smiles 

Mitzi's Sister 

1554 Queen Street West 

http://www.mitzis.ca/sister.html

I have finally visited one of the Mitzi locations!

This particular Mitzi is located in Parkdale, and has an interesting vibe to it... I'm not really sure what kind of vibe it had.. but it's something. 

It's not exactly what I pictured it to be, but it was tasty nonetheless! The brunch menu looked really standard and nice. I got the fish cakes :) I didn't know fish cakes could be part of a brunch menu! 

My friends had pretty yummy dishes as well! 

The homefries are tasty and they offer fruit with each dish :) Nice touch. 

Now, I do feel like it was a bit pricy for some items. I had this conversation with someone the next day who told me "You need to visit Saving Grace, it's WAY better". Guess where I'll be visiting Week 22?!?  I'll be able to compare and let you know ;)

Mitzi's gets a 3/5 Smile rating today. Man, I'm pretty mean with the smile rating today! 

The Holy Oak Cafe 

1241 Bloor Street West 

http://holyoakcafe.wordpress.com/

I love this place! 

It's located on Bloor Street West near Landsdowne Station. Great vibe, open really late (it doubles as a bar), and has plenty of seating. Latte was great. I had a decaf latte, and it was just as tasty at the real thing! I would definitely come back here to relax with a good book, or study (if I were a student), chat with friends, etc. etc.. You can feel comfortable doing anything here :) Loved it. 

I want to come back here before I leave for sure!!!! 

Good For: Everyone. 

5/5 Smiles and then some! 

__________

ALRIGHT! Done Week #20!! Holy Crap. 

Only 2 weeks left to explore Toronto!

 This next little bit is going to be very exciting! 

Can't wait! ;) 

Keep Smiling, 

- Moni

Ticking Off the Toronto Bucket List: Week #19

WOW!

What an incredibly packed week!! I mean REALLY PACKED.
I didn't think I'd be able to cram so many bucket list activities into one week!! But it's getting close to crunch time so I'm trying to do as much as I can!

So here we go! Hope you enjoy this extremely long blog post!

Tango Palace Coffee Company 

1156 Queen Street East (Leslieville)

http://www.blogto.com/cafes/tangopalace

This place is open late! That's one of the reasons why I decided to trek all the way down to Leslieville for coffee. I figured why not hang out at a coffee shop till 11 o'clock at night!

This place is super neat. It has a funky interior that reminds me of the 1920s with an 2011 twist. I'm not sure if that's accurate, or if that makes sense, but it's a pretty interesting place! The barista knows everyone by name, and it didn't take too long before we also became acquainted. There were tons and tons of treats to choose from, but I ended up going for the Skor brownie. A regular recommended it. 

I decided to use the "check in" feature on Facebook to tell all my friends where I was... it was only my second time using this app. It turned out that a friend of mine lived just a short walk away! Thank god for social media! We ended up bonding and chatting. It was a lovely evening, and we stayed till the place closed at 11pm! Success!

I'd recommend Tango Palace for anyone. It's a great place for meetings, chatting with friends, studying, reading, etc. It's basically a living room. But a living room with many friends, and one that is equipped with an espresso machine. Who could ask for anything more?

5/5 Smily Smiles! 

Summerworks Theatre Festival 
http://www.summerworks.ca/2011/home.php


Last year I attended the Summerworks Festival to see The Haunted Hillbilly, and thoroughly enjoyed myself! The music was written by the one and only Matthew Barber, so I couldn't resist!

Summerworks is a Toronto indie theatre and arts festival. So, not only do they put on great live theatre but live music as well! Tons to see and do!

Anyway, this year I didn't want to miss the festival, and luckily enough, a co-worker of mine had submitted a play! Actually, it was a musical! Even better!

Written and directed by Kevin Michael Shea, Hero & Leander: A New Musical Comedy is based on an ancient tragedy of the same name. Years ago, Mr. Shea was introduced to this story and became so attached to the story that he created his own modern day version and put it to music! Brilliant! The cast is extremely talented. Great singers, great actors, just perfect! The set and lighting were so professional as well. It was a great piece of indie theatre! I highly recommend seeing it if you are in Toronto during the festival!

Summerworks runs until Aug 14!

The Remarkable Bean 

2242 Queen Street East (The Beaches)

http://www.blogto.com/cafes/remarkablebean

I went to The Beach (that's what the neighbourhood is called actually... most residents and Torontonains still call it The Beaches). Apparently there was a vote to officially change the name to "The Beach". However, everyone knows it as The Beaches. There's more than one! Anyway...

I visited a friend who has relocated to The Beaches, and she lives just a few doors down from The Remarkable Bean! You know what that means right? A coffee shop date!

The Remarkable Bean is located on a hip and laid back stretch of Queen Street East. This neighbourhood is filled with unique shops, baby stores, coffee shops, pet stores, anything your little heart desires. It's also quite close to the beach! Perfect! 

I opted for just a simple coffee. I chose their medium roast, and it was quite lovely. The roast their own beans there! My friend had an iced decaf Americano and a quiche! Yum! She let me try a piece, and it was quite heavenly. I really really wanted to try their savory scones. As we chatted I could see them pulling the fresh scones out from the oven and the smell was so tempting! Maybe next time?!

I really enjoyed this place. There were benches outside, and the seating inside was pretty roomy. They offer free wi-fi but for some reason I wasn't able to connect to it very well.... but that may just have been my own technological glitch. 

Overall, I'd give this place 5/5 Smiles!!! They have fresh pastries baked onsite, and their coffee is great stuff! I'd recommend visiting when you visit The Beaches! Oh, and it's open late! Till 10pm! Perfect! 

5/5 Smiles 

Taste of the Danforth

Aug 5 - 7 2011
Greek Festival in Greektown!
http://www.tasteofthedanforth.com/tasteofthedanforth.php

Greek food! Greek music! Greek Everything!

Taste of the Danforth is an annual festival of everything Greek. It takes place on, you guessed it, The Danforth, more specifically 'Greektown'. Now, I have visited Greektown once or twice in the past, but not enough to actually become familiar with the culture within it. Therefore, Taste of the Danforth was the perfect time to visit and taste some Greek goodness!

I decided to head over on Friday evening. It all started around 6pm on Friday, so I wanted to beat the lines and get there early! When I arrived everything had already begun. People were chowing down on chicken pitas, and baklava. I wasn't sure which vendor to choose to buy some chicken sovlaki. There were so many options and places to choose from! I decided on the one with a) a line b) older Greek men who looked like they've been making Greek food for 50 years. It was tasty! Just your regular chicken and pita combo. Nothing too fancy, but it was the experience that counts :)

I went to the festival alone. I have a feeling that if I had had a partner in Greek crime, I would have stuck around longer. I may have treated myself to more Greek cuisine. Alas, I did not. I had fun, but could have had more fun *sigh*.

Lots of people though. Lots and lots of people. So, if you aren't a crowd person, I wouldn't recommend it. If you are, and if you love all things Greek, go for it!

____

Alright, so that's a wrap on Week #19!! Sure makes up for Week #17 eh?!?

So, I'd say I have approximately 3 real weeks left in Toronto.

Will I make it through my Bucket List?!?

Time will tell!!

Keep Smilin,

Monica