Welcome Relief

I had the opportunity to spend the weekend back down in the city and it was a welcome relief from the life I have been living up here north of the city.

I enjoyed having brunch in a Queen Street cafe and chatting with a friend that works in the cafe but also lives in the building where I used to live too. Afterward I headed into the core of the city and enjoyed 3 or 4 hours in the market. I love the market with it's own special sights, sounds and smells.

The selection of seafood in great and I managed to bring home about four meals of various fish. I got tempted to purchase a supply of meat as well but opted only for some peameal and one small roast.

What I enjoy about the market is not just the range of food but it is the characters that frequent market, whether they are hawking their wares, providing the entertainment with their instruments or the folks that are just to purchase goods they do make a wonderful cross section. The vendors that cry out their specials and complete with the other stall owners down the row or the butchers and fish mongers are there trying to out do each other with their flamboyant description of their selections.

The combination of smells can just fill you up when you walk the aisles. Fish smells combine with tasty fresh baked goods and then there are the cheeses. Four different cheese merchants offer cheese selections from every coner of the globe and with a little coxing you can taste and great variety of them. I was good this time and only came home with Oaka and some Brie.

When I left I wandered down Front Street for a pint at the Jersey Giant before I stopped to take a couple of shots of the flat iron building. I know it's a touristy thing to do but the old triangular building is a neat contrast to the glass towers which line the street behind. I will post one of these shots tomorrow.

I left down town and went back to the Beach for supper. Actually I went up to Kingston Road and enjoyed a roast beef dinner complete with Yorkshire pudding at the Feathers pub. Wonderful English fare in an English setting. If anyone out there considers themselves are authority of single malt whisky then Feathers ought to be on your list of places to visit. In addition to having 22 daughts beers on tap, Ian the landlord at Feathers boasts one of the largest collections of single malt in North American. I didn't check the count during this visit but when I asked last they carried over 320 malts in stock.

I leave the rest of the story from Saturday evening and Sunday till tomorrow.