To market, to market, to buy a fat pig . . .

Home again, home again, dancing a jig. (or, jiggity jig) ~Mother Goose

Markets charm me, they are exciting places. I love the crowds, the bustle, the sights, the smells. The fruits and vegetables are fresher, the meat better in quality, the coffee more fragrant and there is more variety in everything.

Last Saturday I went to market, St Lawrence Market, downtown Toronto. The north building, a farmer's market, is open Saturdays only, in summer full of local produce but this time of year there are fewer stalls and the produce is imported. The south building, what you see below, is home to hundreds of permanent shops and it is open every day. I made the trip to pick up some Montreal bagels, Kozlik's mustard and a nice thick slice of Cantenar cheese.

It was almost lunchtime when I arrived, the bread bakery shelves were emptying quickly. They would be empty by 1:30 PM.

I walked by the Italian sandwich stand and considered stopping for a bite to eat...no. I knew what I really wanted...bagels.

Eve's Temptations, guess what they sell here? Still not what I wanted though.

I stopped to enjoy some flower and tropical fruit displays. Spring flowers make me feel hopeful!

Next stop, Kozlik's Canadian Mustard, more than 35 varieties. Anton Kozlik was frying and chopping Canadian bacon as fast as he could, people were spearing it with toothpicks and dipping in his wonderful mustards. It was so hard to choose just one, it was hard to choose only four! I bought 4 for $20, settled on the one I made the trip for Niagara Classic (it has ouzo in it), Fig and Date Mustard, Bordeau mustard and Amazing Maple Mustard. All are hot, even the sweet ones, they travel to your nose with a slight burn as soon as they enter your mouth. They loose some of their heat when you store them in the fridge.

Next stop was St Urbain Bagel. They sell the only authentic Montreal bagels in Toronto, from a few locations. They line up (at all locations) for these bagels, and yes they're worth lining up for. Boiled in honey water, then baked in an open wood-fired brick oven, at this location right before your eyes! These bagels are small, dense, slightly sweet and very chewy. I like them best toasted with butter. They are also great cold with lox and cream cheese. I am originally from Montreal and when I moved to Toronto could not find a good bagel for a long time.

Next I moved over to Alex Farm Products, a cheese shop, one of the very best I have come across in this city. I always look forward to a few samples when I come here...I pretend I don't know what I want and they offer me all kinds of things! Finally, I select Cantenar cheese, the one I came for. (naughty hmm?)

We were getting tired, I had what I came for and we pushed on through the people, down the worn stone stairs, but stopping to admire the fish monger's display and the butcher's beautiful standing rib roast...I thought the prices were pretty good on the roast.

Bouilliabaisse anyone?

That was my visit short version. If you would like to see more photos, click on any one of the photos here and you will land at my Webshots album where the rest of them are.

Earth Hour 2009

Another notice about the upcoming Earth Hour came to me today. We are supposed to tell ten of our friends to to to the site and sign up...it doesn't cost anything, well just a little commitment. You can sign up here if you haven't already. http://www.earthhour.org/signup/ March 28 we will all sit in the dark for an hour...I sure hope the weather is nice that evening so I can go for a walk--an hour passes slowly when you are sitting in the dark. I hope everyone is going to participate, turn the lights out and sit in the dark with me!

Flowers and Hockey

I received this lovely bouquet of flowers last Friday at the office from my boss who was away at our National Sales Meeting in Mexico. It was a thank you for work I did on the meeting...a kind gesture but gee...next time it would be even nicer if he would bring me along to the meeting! Since it was Friday afternoon I brought them home to enjoy over the weekend.

I spent the week catching up on everything I had thrown aside to work on the meeting. Oh yes, I also came in late a couple of mornings and took one long lunch.

Mid week I attended a hockey game at our executive suite at the Air Canada Centre. Is that ever a nice way to watch the game! Catering supplied pizza for the kids, steak sandwiches, caesar salad, sushi, beer and wine for the adults. Huge warm from the oven chocolate chip cookies came later along with popsicles (for the children) and Haagen Dazs ice cream for everyone.

Mmmm, what a treat!

And this was a treat too!

The food was better than the game. Leafs and Rangers were tied 1:1 at the end of the third period--very little scoring = very little excitement. We didn't want to stay later just to see them blow it (as they usually do, they are the worst team in the NHL) and it was a long walk to the car so we left. I learned next day that the Leafs won! C'est la vie!

This young fellow in our suite certainly enjoyed the game!

The light show on the ice was pretty.

Above and below, singing of the national anthems.

The Leafs are a terrible team but fans keep coming out to see them anyway. The Air Canada Center was full! They have won a few games since last week but that is not a good thing; it is just enough to move them up a wee bit in the standings so they will loose first draft choice and boy do they need that!