Day Tripping

Every year Marty and I take one day to head out to the "big city" and spend the day window shopping. We used to go to Montreal before we moved here but it is too far now. Now we head to Ottawa. I make a picnic lunch and we head out early.

I do my own shopping throughout the year so there is normally very little if anything that needs to be purchased on these trips. This year we took the two boys with us and had a fairly tight schedule as we needed to get back home to get Joshua to work for five. Our first stop was a tiny little shop in Manotick called Sucre Sale. I bought each of the little mousse available (Butterscotch, Chocolate, Maple and Berry) as well as a Florentine and a giant French Macaroon. Sorry, they were gone by the time we got home.
Another stop was the Mideast Grocer for some Mizhitra. My favourite meal in the world is an odd little thing called "Spaghetti a la Homer with Burnt Butter and Mizhitra." (basically a hard Ricotta Sheep cheese, and browned butter tossed with spaghetti noodles) The dish is from the "Old Spaghetti Factory" in Toronto. It took me some doing a number of years ago to find out what the cheese was they used to make it and then some time to find somewhere to get it in Eastern Ontario! It is an annual treat. The drinks are all from the same place. Aaron went nuts when he saw all the funky flavours. We are having fun trying them out.
We also hit three Wallacks stores( art supplies) in the city and Ikea, Lee Valley, and C.A Paradis.
Every year I get something special for the kitchen. While this may not thrill some folks, it is something I look forward to. This year it was an immersible blender, perfect for working foods right in the pot, instead of having to transfer them to a food processor or blender, and back again.

The weather was little snowy and messy but as it is a Tuesday, the roads weren't busy, parking a breeze, and the stores unpopulated. I hate crowds. We even got Joshua to work with almost ten minutes to spare! Amazing. And yes, I made up a batch of that special spaghetti for dinner and we each got a little piece of the Chocolate Mousse for dessert. They are only three or four inches across so it was a delicious but not too indulgent end to a very busy day. Fabulous.