Kensington Market

First Assignment

Linda, your first assignment, if you choose to accept it, is to go to Kensington Market.

This is a Big Adventure. You need to set aside about half a day for this one. Mainly, because I want pictures of you in front of at least 3 stores. And they are at opposite ends of the Market. Or you may choose to break this one down into several parts.

The first is "Courage My Love" on Kensington. I always go here when I am in town. I can always find some kind of textile or beads or jewelry that I have to have. But feel free to explore any of the great second hand store on this end of the block. Things have changed a little since I lived there, and many of them seemed to be owned by savvy Asian women who knew a good thing when they saw it. In my day, it was people I knew who hand picked their wares all over the city. Some of them are still there, but it is still a great place to find some great bargains and flashes from the past.

The second is the cheese shop on the west side of Kensington, near Baldwin. Now this is not the big store that you might think it is. It is the little one closer to the corner. There is barely room to walk down the aisle alone, much less stand in line while people file in to stand behind you. I love the women who work in this store. If you are smart, you start by asking them what is good today. They may ask you to be more specific, but more than likely they will give you a sample of cheese. If you don't like it, say so, they will fing you something else. They have great feta here and I never leave without some brie. If you go regularly to see them like I did, they will definitely remember you. I went back a couple of years after moving to Kalamazoo, and they wondered what happened to me until they noticed my wedding ring.

The third is the little bulk store almost at the end of Baldwin St. near Augusta. This is not the big bulk store on the corner, but the one just before it on the north side of the street near the fish shop. Along the way, you will see where I bought all of my fresh produce for the weekend cooking frenzy. The fish store up the street on the south side of Baldwin, was a stop for those special occasion meals. The little bulk shop was my favorite because it was run by a South American family, Chilean I think, and I loved that my money was supporting them and their employees. Purchases here for me was always a pound of Blue Mountain coffee (how I miss that blend) and my 10# bags of Basmati Rice, along with brown sugar and what ever else my pantry was missing.

If you are smart, you will make your way up Augusta to College. I didn't always make this walk, as I usually had my little rolly shopping cart full to the brim and needed to get home. But is an integral part of the market experience. And if you have made it this far, without eating, then you can walk up College and Spadina and find a new Asian Restaurant to eat at. I have a couple of places on Spadina you need to check out but that is for another day.

Can't wait to hear about/ see your first adventure.

Here is someone else's views of why Kensington is so grrrreeeaaaattttt!!!!!.

Sheldon

The Beginning

Ok, so I am in Toronto working at the Toronto Summer Institute. I lived in Toronto for almost 10 years and loved every minute of it. One of my jobs at the Institute is "Concierge" because I know the city inside and out, and if I don't know about something I want to find out about it. So I talking to Linda, (who is a new resident in this wonderful city, from the US no less). I keep making references to all of these great places in this wonderful city. She has no clue what I am talking about half the time. We are both working on the Institute and I don't have time to take to her to all these great places and I now live in the US. So, this blog is my way of sending her out to all of these great places. Her job is to go to them and take a photo of herself in front of the place and post it to this blog along with comments of her experience.