Today was a beautiful day and I finally made it to
Nathan Phillip Square. Every Wednesday they have a farmer’s market. Now I’ve written that Toronto doesn’t have anything like
Jean Talon Market in Montreal, and that’s true. We do have wonderful smaller versions of it, though that are like little jewels in a large bustling metropolis where most fruit and vegetables come packaged or at least a day old. Nathan Phillip Square is in front of City Hall and right next to The Eaton Centre (large downtown shopping mall and tourist Mecca) and in the hub of finance and government offices. It's like taking a mini trip to the country on your lunch hour.
I can't believe I haven't written about it before and since I didn't take too many pictures of produce today, I will share some I took last September so you can see what we have to look forward to - like.....
baskets of mixed fruit like grapes (the few that don't make it into wine), pears, plums and peaches....
Cortland apples (although I did get to buy some early Paula Red's today and they were crunchy, juicy and just a bit tangy) ....
homemade cakes, breads and jams....
wonderful veggies and basil, basil and more basil....
and my daughter Sharron's favorite flowers.
Back to today...it really was a treat to be able to shop for apples (still early in the season, but the crunchy Paula Reds I bought were delicious) and corn that was picked early this the morning. (Guess what's for supper?) Go around lunchtime, like I did, and you get to munch on Canadian bacon on a bun, roasted corn on the cob ($3 for one, which I had to have, even though I bought some corn to take home (3 for $1)
No, that's not me, but that's what the corn looked like after being roasted in the husks which were pulled back and dipped in melted butter. I was too busy eating mine to take a picture of it.
Since that wasn't enough I had to try an awesome Ecuadorian lunch of pulled pork, fried mashed potato cakes and salad ($6 and worth every penny).
Just look at the size of those pans - potato cakes, pulled pork and in front, roasted chicken and steaks...sooooo good!
And the happy Ecuadorians who made it for me.
Not pleasant enough for you, with all that lovely produce, fresh honey and flowers all around ….
You also get to listen to live music for a couple of hours. Today was Andy Earle and friend singing Calypso and Reggae. All in all, a perfect mid-day break.
Related links:
Food and Drink markets
2 comments:
Toronto has nothing like the Jean Talon market in Montreal but Montreal has nothing like the St-Lawrence market, the Toronto Chinatown and Kensington Market... ;-)
Wow! Thats a farmers market? We have them here in the UK, but they are nothing like that! I am truly envious! Now I understand why everyone in the blogosphere raves about farmers markets, while I rarely bother going to them! Maybe I should give them another go, to see if they have improved!
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