Toronto, Canada

E. and I were able to stay in Toronto for about six weeks in May and June. I was busy with work at the time and wasn’t able to pull together any pictures. Our apartment was in the middle of a downtown shopping district called Yorkville and down the street from a city library.

Luckily (or unluckily) for us, we were able to take care of our landlady’s cat for about a week. As I’ve detailed in past dog and cat posts, I love animals, but I have a moderate cat allergy. After a couple of days,  I was sneezing so much that I had to carry around a box of tissues. Our landlady must have had a guilty conscience because she dashed over one night and took our fake pet away.

It was probably for the best because it sat on the counter while I cooked. This bothered me.

The skyview is interesting in Toronto because of the cable cars. This picture reminds me of Abbey Road.

We tried to include the CN Tower in most of our shots.

One of our cable car drivers was so nice that he helped a mother duck and her ducklings cross the street in front of traffic. (And they say that Canadians are such mean people!) 😉

This is kind of a gloomy picture of Chinatown. I had the best fried Chinese dumplings I’ve ever tasted here. I also tried cane sugar juice for the first time.

Kensington Market is next to Chinatown. It’s an eclectic neighborhood where gourmet items, vegetables, fruits, and ethnic foods are sold. I liked this Mucha-inspired art deco painting on the side of a building there.

Near the end of our stay, both my and E.’s parents came to visit. We took them around the city and drove to Niagara Falls for the day.

One of the highlights of our time in Toronto was getting to meet one of my favorite bloggers and friends, Ricki of Diet, Dessert, ‘n Dogs. We met for lunch and dinner and talked about our favorite things including food and teaching. She kindly brought me some homemade cacao-walnut butter spread and her cookbook Sweet Freedom and proved that she is just as nice as she seems from her lovely blog!

Please help Ricki get on the Ellen Show, as Ellen has already featured  her book on her show’s Web site. I think Ricki’s a perfect fit for the show.