Ontario – Friends, Family, Gin and Photography

Back to Ontario, where we spent so many years...

Zophia picked us up at the airport and we spent a LONG time in traffic as we headed out to Waterloo.  With her roommates gone for the summer, there was lots of room in her apartment for us.  It was great to see her, and it seems like she appreciated some grown-ups around who know how to cook.  Apparently she remembered the duck recipe as she claims she made it for a friend and the two of them have not been hospitalized.  Waterloo isn’t that far from Toronto, so we went back and forth a few times as did Zophia.

We drove up to Wasaga Beach and visited with Pat and Ted. They used to live in Vancouver and have retired in Ontario. In addition to great food and catching up, they introduced us to Dillon’s Small Batch Distillery (dillons.ca).

Our friend Michelle was kind enough to let us stay at her place in Toronto.  This meant doing more cooking and enjoying some awesome wine with her.  Michelle works in the wine industry and knows more than anyone else we know. Her blog is here: http://adventureinwine.com/thefermentedgrape/. We went to the Niagara region with Michelle to learn a bit more about Ontario wine and to check out Dillon’s Distillery. We have to thank Pat and Ted again for introducing us to Dillon’s.
Cool looking still at Dillon's


Our friend Tim took us fishing on Lake Ontario, and we caught a salmon. Back on land we helped Tim clean and filet the fish.  A few weeks later we went to see the Toronto Air Show with Tim’s entire family on the boat.  All of us would recommend seeing the Air Show from land, as the authorities don’t let the boats get anywhere close enough to see. It was fun spending time with Tim and Stephanie and their two boys.

We spent some time with our friend Victoria too.  Her place is on the 19th floor and gave us a great view. Her cooking is also awesome, but she’s lactose intolerant so there wasn’t any fattening creamy sauces!
Toronto Skyline at night from Victoria's


We had some time to see other friends, all of whom have been invited to come sailing with us anytime they can (especially Rachel Gibbs). When we weren't visiting, Malcolm got artistic with his camera (http://500px.com/photosbyme-malcolm) and looked at getting into social media (http://instagram.com/photosbyme_malcolm)
Ooooh - Artistic

Artistic flower thing

Wow - what artistic colours

Instagram worthy...#buttertart, #cookedsugar, #yum, #food, #bakedgoods, #fattening