Saturday Morning

It's been months since we've been to St. Lawrence market, and I've been needing to replenish my store of honey, so Rob and I headed over this morning.

Honey World is great, they let you taste before you buy, and I sampled 20 different jars before I settled on three different tastes.  Miele de Tilleul (linden honey) from France, a beautiful light amber colour; Pure New Zealand Honey (wildflower blossoms), caramel coloured; and Arbutus honey from Spain, almost as dark as molasses.  All have such unique flavours, thanks to the nectar sources of the busy bees.  I can almost hear the bees buzzing.  I wonder if they sound the same in different countries around the world?  By the way... I had to check.... buzz is the same word in English and French, but zumbido in Spanish.  Maybe those Spanish bees buzz a different tune.

While eating a breakfast burrito at Carnicero's, Eddy Shack popped by in a cowboy hat to say hello to the staff. After he left, Rob fired up his tablet and showed me some You Tube footage of "the Entertainer", back in the day.  The former Maple Leaf is around 75 now, when I do the math, but he sure doesn't look it.

In the farmers' market, I tasted some fresh water buffalo cheese that had been rolled in herbs de Provence (savoury, basil, thyme, fennel and lavendar).  The milk comes from a farm near London, Ontario and the cheese is made somewhere close to Toronto.  So, so good.  I will have to figure out how to build a meal around it this coming week.  Maybe a nice, simple salad drizzled with a dressing made with kafir and honey.

I almost made it out of the market without stopping at Alex Farm Products, but I couldn't walk by.  I thought I would try some French Burgundy cheese, Epoisses, and then sampled some Fleasur D'Aunis.  Once I had a nibble, the two found their way into my basket.

Mexican ingredients were inspiring Rob, and he picked up mole sauce, salsa, guacamole, and black beans for a delicious lunch. Some other treasures for our kitchen cupboards were Kusmi tea; coffee from Sumatra; black organic quinoa; and fresh Old Montreal Style bagels.

On the way back to the car, stepping outside, we were almost blown away by the wind storm.  On the radio, the news was filled with stories about the power outages, with thousands of people in Ontario being knocked off the grid.  In Toronto, the King streetcar had been thrown out of business for a couple hours.

We stopped by the Waterworks on our way home to check out the waves, which with whitecaps, looked to be at least 3 meters high. The sky was clouded over, but occasionally the sun would slice its way through and cast ribbons of dazzling light on the surface of the lake.  Breath taking!  But I'm glad I'm not out on a boat in this water.

Rob grabbed these shots using his tablet.