Canadian For a Weekend
Happy Sunday, everyone! We're all stuck in the house right now, so I thought it would be a good idea to give you all a little something extra to add to your reading list. Vacations, concerts, festivals, and gatherings have been canceled for now, but let’s look at the bright side: today is the start of a new week, which means we are - inevitably - one week closer to freedom from this seemingly perpetual quarantine! Spring has sprung and the warmth of summer is just around the corner.
To get everyone hyped for vacations to come, we’re going to travel back to a cold January weekend in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, when things were much more free. Michael, Megan, John, & I had three days exactly to do as many typical Canadian things as possible, and these were our top 5 (in chronological order):
1. Extreme Winter
As the elevator descended from the 23rd floor of my office building at exactly 4:30pm, my boss warned me to “Be careful going home! The snow is getting pretty bad out there.”
Until now, I had no idea that it was supposed to snow. “I’m headed straight to the airport to go to Toronto,” I responded.
“Have you checked your flight?”
“No.”
Fast forward a few minutes as I am looking at a long list of canceled flights from Midway Airport. My heart was quickly sinking. Every flight is canceled, I thought, as I continued to scroll. I finally came across our flight, ran by a small Canadian airline. “On time.” Interesting… I was sure it would get canceled, but I headed toward the airport, anyway.
Fast forward again to 8:30pm - an hour later than our planned departure time. We had been delayed by an incoming plane that had to circle around the airport for 30 minutes, unable to see the runway. We sat patiently in our assigned seats while the crew spayed antifreeze all over the plane. We are the only flight after 6pm that was not canceled. “Perhaps this is just normal weather for a Canadian airline?” I suggested. We finally took off, then arrived safely in Toronto two hours later.
The next day, it snowed more than six inches - the largest amount of snow on record to fall in Toronto on January 18.
2. Coffee Crisps
Before heading off to Canada, I was tipped off by a Canadian co-worker about how fantastic Coffee Crisps are. They are simply a candy bar - probably as common as a Kit-Kat Bar - that we do not sell in the United States. It consists of alternating layers of vanilla wafer and a foamed coffee-flavor soft candy, covered with a milk chocolate outer layer (Wikipedia). As soon as we arrived downtown Toronto, we went to 7/11 to grab some. We hadn’t checked into our accommodation yet.
We bought a handful of these once, twice, three times, aaaand, finally, a fourth time during our… three days… in Toronto. We ate them for breakfast every day. These are incredible.
3. Poutine
Poutine has slowly crept its way into the mainstream gastropub fare list in recent years and was something I had never tried before going to Canada this year. I had a few opportunities in the months leading up to this trip, but I opted to have my first in Canada.
After trudging through snow in downtown Toronto for an hour or so, we decided to take cover in a bar called the Loose Moose (of course). We had tickets to an NHL game a few hours later, so we decided to stay put until game time and grab (several) drinks. This was also a perfect opportunity for a couple plates of poutine - one vegan and one regular.
My thoughts? It’s good! It’s nothing I’d order on a regular basis, but it is certainly a good “finger food” to chow down on over great conversation.
4. Hockey
There’s nothing quite like flying from Chicago all the way to Canada just to see the Chicago team play. I’m kidding; we actually chose this particular weekend, because 1) it was a long weekend, and 2) the Chicago Blackhawks were playing the Toronto Maple Leafs. While I am not an avid hockey fan, John’s bucket list includes seeing a game at each NHL arena. For the sake of doing all things that are absolutely Canadian, I was down to join.
The game was pretty good! The Blackhawks played very well for the whole game, and it was pretty apparent that they would win for most of the third period. Toronto fans began to leave the arena in droves throughout the final period as the Maple Leafs were inevitably losing. It was quite an experience to watch the remaining thousands get up and leave silently once the game had ended. No cheering. Nothing. (Go, Blackhawks!)
5. CN Tower
When I was in seventh grade, I completed a project where I had to plan a vacation to anywhere I wanted, then map out every fine detail of every day of the trip. At the time, I was enamored with Degrassi: The Next Generation (a Canadian teen drama set in Toronto that tackled ALL of the issues), so I chose to plan a vacation to Toronto. I had planned to rent a Lamborghini and eat at the 360 Restaurant at the top of the CN Tower. Those are some of the only details I can remember. BUT, since this trip was finally happening, and we didn’t exactly have the budget for that Lambo, we had no choice but to make a reservation at the 360 Restaurant.
The restaurant is located on the 147th floor of the CN Tower and overlooks downtown Toronto and Lake Ontario, while rotating 360° every 72 minutes. From the first step off of the elevator and into the restaurant, it is evident that they. have. wine. From the extensive wine list - many of which are Canadian-made - to the world’s highest wine cellar located in the center of the restaurant, it was clear that this wine and dine would be just fine.
We ordered two bottles of Canadian wine, and each picked from a three-course prix fixe menu. I enjoyed a seafood bisque appetizer, roasted King Cole duck breast main dish, and a dark chocolate tower for dessert. Each course was unique and incredibly delicious.
