Stay At Home Tourist

Comfortable walking shoes and a camera. I'm ready to be a tourist for the day. In my own city. Doing something different. I've been feeling in a bit of a rut. Today this is going to change!

First stop is brunch at By the Way Cafe in the Annex. Don, our favourite server, has reserved us a spot on the patio. Okay...so we've been here (several hundred times) before...but not in a long time...and NEVER as a tourist. Two different sets of people we know stop by our table to say hello. Not quite the anonymity I had anticipated. I feel a little silly about taking out my camera. But I do anyway. A life lived on the edge.

By the Way's Eggs Charlottine

I always order the same thing - Eggs Charlottine. And I do again today. But it's so good! A take on Eggs Benedict but with smoked salmon and spinach instead of the peameal bacon.

We stroll east along Bloor Street. I'm stuffed. Brunch should last me until dinner. Fortunately this isn't necessary. Greg's Ice Cream is just down the way. Okay so I've been here before...but not for years. I get Ginger - that's pretty un-routine! The Hubby gets Coffee Toffee. Both excellent. The Beamer wrinkles his nose and won't open his mouth. Is he ours?!









 
Although we've passed the Bata Shoe Museum numerous times we've never gone inside. Today is the day. Finally something I've never done before. Four floors of shoes! The Native North American moccasins are beautiful with intricate beading. There is a worn pair of work boots that are actually clay sculptures. Shoes as art.

Me and the Beamer outside the ROM Crystal

Next we pass the ROM. I have long admired the "Crystal"addition designed by the architect Daniel Libeskind. It bursts from the old original stone building. Makes a statement. I've always wanted to go inside. But don't. Wouldn't  want to push it.

Imagine the Daughter waving us inside!

Further east we come to "Mink Mile" or Yorkville. I've been along here MANY times. The plan is to visit the Daughter who has a summer job at Roots but at the last minute she gives up her shift.  We go anyway and pretend she's there. A plan is a plan.

Kitchenware stores are one of my weaknesses

We go into Williams-Sonoma. Big mistake. We go in to buy tea towels. We come out with omelette pans, spatulas, oven mitts, can opener. It could have been worse. They are marketing kings. We are helpless pawns. The Hubby contemplates a mango slicer! I fondle napkins that you can make into origami animals!







 
The Hubby has long feigned indifference at my Perfect Man poll but I think secretly he is perturbed that he is not one (even though he IS the Perfect Hubby). HE is the one who suggests we get the omelette pans. A Perfect Man point is within his grasp...THEN he reminds me that just because we have the pans that I should not expect him to be making me omelettes...AND the point slips on by...! Oh Hubby!

The calamari on the left is definitely NOT for the Daughter!

My usual - Pasta with Lamb, Arugula, Black Olives, and Feta

To cap off our day of Tourist, we pick up the Daughter and go out for dinner. Tourists would definitely NOT cook at home! We go to our favourite pasta restaurant - Queen's Pasta. Yes we've been here thousands of times before. It's really hard to do new and exciting things all day!









I know you'll be surprised (NOT!) that I always order the same thing at this restaurant.  I've passed this trait onto the Daughter. Tonight she states that she's going to have something different. She has started her own blog where she has committed to doing something new everyday. Tonight after much consideration she settles on Penne Carbonara. It's what she always orders. To satisfy her quest to do something she's never done before she takes a microscopic nibble of a crab cake.

 Another life lived on the edge. She must be ours!!