Welcome to a regular edition of the random things that comprise a week… outings with friends, errands, and other dailyness…
Cinnamoon - a new bakery downtown
A friend and I went to the newly opened Cinnamoon bakery on Albert street… the street with old Exchange District charm at one end, and graffitied dereliction at the other. People huddled on a stoop as the forecast fulfilled rain; others walked with brazen nonchalance, gaze up, hair down. The pale mauve colour inside matched storm cloud greys. The decor was ordered and still as leafy-green elms swung their branches around outside and the new awnings crisply fluttered. I wasn’t the ideal customer, looking for free wifi to pay for parking, and maybe wanting the trompe-l’oeil egg-on-toast to surpass what it was meant to fake was asking for too much. There were better, more ideal customers… young people who came in little lanyard-wearing troops, with smiles on their faces, excited to collectively buy pastries that shimmered with dewey cake-sweat under glass. Loose-leaf tea is listed for 7$. On the socials, everything at Cinnamoon is 10 out of 10.
For fun
A friend suggested lunch at the Lily Stone Café in Rosenort. It’s a small town directly West of Aubigny that was a regular destination for farm-related errands for my father-in-law. Lily Stone Café is one of three businesses including The Rolly Stone restaurant and Lily Stone Gardens. A nice discovery! (Website here)
This is Enzo when his upper lip gets caught on his teeth. My daughter and I think it’s so cute!
Can you spot Christian prepping the garage fascia for paint?
Baking
With the maintenance of sourdough starter, comes an accumulation of discard, and incorporating into rotation recipes that make delicious use of it has been a fun exercise. This week, besides crackers, I made these Sourdough Discard Cookies (recipe here) which feel like an indulgence given their use of cocoa and chips and the recent prices for chocolate. The cookies have a nice soft texture and brownie-like flavour.
Enjoying
Just another argument supporting a love of reading: “The Golden Rule for Becoming a Better Writer” by T. R. Napper (Here, via)
Since Stitcher ceased to exist in 2023, I’d been using the default podcast app from Apple. With only one redeeming quality - the transcription - for its otherwise frustrating user-experience, I’ve been happy to find an alternative called Castro (website here https://castro.fm/ ). Using Castro has been like getting to a beach-side destination, throwing open the windows and realizing it is only a short walk till you can feel waves lapping at your feet.
I recently went to Toad Hall downtown for gifts and came across this book, titled The Right Word. Decorated with awards, I was nonetheless drawn in by the collage-style illustrations that told the (true!) story alongside the text. (A peek at the book here.) It was the kind of book I felt I would appreciate more than my young recipients, so after sitting and reading through, I left it behind in search of other fun things. Melissa Sweet, the illustrator, has a really nice website. I liked the Q&A page here.
Sometimes it’s nice to clap on a set of noise-cancelling headphones and get lost in a bit of music. Most recently, most dreamily, Haruomi Hosono’s Yours Sincerely.
I like it when The Daily takes a detour into art and culture, as it did for the Bayeux Tapestry. To complement it, I liked watching Deep Down History’s overview of the story on Youtube (here).
Walking the dog
This dying season has its spots of beauty… red berries, droplets collected on long stems of grass…
And wooly bears! Normally, I find them on the ground and avoid stepping on them, but this one was nicely posed on a weed…
Happy Sunday!