Opa!

Aahhhh. I’m just putting my feet up and popped in a Curb Your Enthusiasm DVD. Ready to spend the rest of my Saturday evening relaxing and taking it easy after a busy day!

 
I slept in until 9am after a late night of being head butted by a cat. Yes, a cat. This will be explained once I get photographic evidence the elusive feline exists. Until then, we have french toast to discuss.

 
I really wished I had cinnamon raisin bread for french toast this morning, so I stuck raisins in the bread and doused it in cinnamon ;)

Some people are addicted to diet cola and cigarettes, I am addicted to E.D. Smith sugar-free table syrup. C’est la vie.

 
By the bye, I didn’t eat three whole pieces of french toast today. I always save the butt-ends of bread loaves for french toast so it feels like I’m eating more :)

Breakfast dessert was very sweet and very green.

 
Preamble: Last night, I went out for frozen yogurt with Callie. Usually I would show up toting my baby camera, but it was an impromptu date and I went straight from work. We went to this painstakingly cute restaurant-cafe called Moroco in Yorkville. They carry these macarons (not to be confused with coconut macaroons) that seem to be following me lately. Does that ever happen to you? When you’ve never heard of something, then suddenly you see it everywhere?

Clearly I had to seize the moment and drop the $2.50 on the pistachio flavour. It got a little crushed in my bookbag, but I was SO happy when I woke up this morning and remembered I had it. The lady at the chocolate shop described it as two meringue cookies made with almond flour with a butter cream center. Yum :)

Callie got one too, you can read about our froyo meet-up here!

The macaron also made for a pretty good pre-workout snack. Hit up my nearby gym for a lifting workout made up of small circuits. I’ve been doing something similar with a few clients lately and felt like doing it myself! Started with a 10 minute warm-up on the elliptical.

Straight sets

• Barbell deadlift 

Circuit #1 (3x)

• Chest fly 
• One arm row
• Single leg squat (inspired by yesterday’s post!)

Circuit #2 (3x)

• Back extension on roman chair 
• Captain’s chair 
• Standing dumbbell shoulder press 

Circuit #3 (3x)

• One arm triceps extension 
• Dumbbell curl
• Plank 

Did 12 reps of everything, or until I was shaking and couldn’t pump out any more. Whole workout with the warm-up and stretching at the end took me 60 minutes on the dot!

Rushed home for a quick protein snack, but nothing more as I had to rush off for something else!

I live not too far from Danforth Avenue, which is also home to Toronto’s Greek Town. I haven’t been exploring in this part of the city yet, but when I saw the advertising for the annual Taste of the Danforth festival, I knew I had to go!!

Fun Fact: Part of My Big Fat Greek Wedding was filmed in this part of the city. Thanks for the tidbit Therese ;)

The festival is huuuuge. They had Danforth closed for several city blocks. The place was jam packed with people, food stalls, concert stages, amusement park rides and amazing smells with every new block.

 
 
 

 
Not all of it is Greek food, and several non-Greek restaurants in the area set up stands as well. I was told there would be free food, but sadly I had to pay for any of the good stuff ;)

 
I met up with Sarah and her husband and we walked up and down the whole thing looking for food. Usually I get really panicky in big crowds like this, but today I was feeling pretty good about it. We kept moving and only stood to scarf down the delicious food we got.

Wanna see what that food was?? (I know you do!)

First sign I saw that caught my eye was this. I loooooove rosemary and love the idea of a chicken rosemary pie.

This was so good. Sarah and her husband compared the filling to chicken stew and I would have to agree! With a lovely rosemary flavour and hunks of mushrooms. The outside was a wonderfully crispy phyllo.

Next up, we spotted the stall of a restaurant called Astoria that was recommended to me. I was hankering for a shish kebab, saw the long line, and thought this place could be a winner!

Doesn’t it look like I’m giving a thumbs up?? 

IloveGreekfoodyesIdo.

Sarah loves Greek food too!!

Fun Fact #2: Sarah is also going to the Healthy Living Summit next weekend!! I haven’t given it much thought since I bought the ticket what feels like years ago. Now suddenly I’ve only got Chicago on my mind!

Washed my meat down with some overpriced lemonade.

The schmancy stuff – freshly squeezed with organic lemons and stevia. Three times as expensive as the other stalls, but I like to think more refreshing :)

At this point I was winding down and looking for something sweet to finish the day off. Until I spotted this sign in the crowd:

Another food that has been following me everywhere!! I’ve never tried oysters before and now live close to a restaurant that specializes in them. They’re pretty darn expensive there, but today I was feeling the love for street-shucked oysters.

Rawbabyraw with a little ‘basco!

Gaaaah, these were salty! Albeit, they’re from saltwater, but not even the water back home is that salty. I did however dig the raw texture, but perhaps I will stick to my true love – mussels.

Fun Fact #3: I live in the riding of the NDP (New Democratic Party) leader, Jack Layton.

Apparently, he loves the Greek food too.

Sadly, no plates were broken, just thousands of ears of corn. Opa!

 

Question of the Day: What’s your favourite Greek dish? Pita bread, traditional tzatziki, dolmades and moussaka are some of my favourites. But for the sake of my expanding waistline, I decided to save those for my next trip to Greek Town ;)