I think I've fallen in love with Kindfood

  

I was not expecting a day like today. I woke up and decided to "Raine-Check" with friends who were going out missioning and have a Raine day in Burlington. Not that I was sad but because I wanted to bond with my new city, and every Saturday night before this one I had been flirting with Toronto and decided I needed a change. And boy am I glad I did.

Now I know this is my travel blog and I'm not really a foodie - but bare with me as I tell you all about Kindfood.

Upon arriving in Burlington, out apartment block was generous enough to give us a "how to" pack on Burlington and an advert in one of the guides caught my eye about a Gluten-free Vegan Bakery, Kindfood, with the caption 'Voted "Best Cupcakes" and "Best Brownies"', which immediately made me think that someone had paid the editor off of the 'Burlington Visitors Guide'... so with my snow boots on - I decided to try it for myself...

So with a statement like that - I really had my doubts - its was practically free of everything that I always thought made food yummy (and I was curiously wondering how it would be possible to make "Best Brownies" with none of those ingredients in them)...



Just looking at this picture makes me want more 



WOW!!!! So like a stalker tourist I was standing in the queue to order and saw the cupcakes and decided to be 'one of those people' and photograph as much as possible.

I ordered a red velvet cupcake (red velvet anything being my favourite) and I was certainly not let down. In fact I think "Best Cupcake" doesn't quite capture how good their cupcakes really are.

With my order (completely forgetting I was in a gluten free vegan bakery) I tried to order a cup of coffee... EPIC fail but also a very Raine thing to do. As they didn't have coffee (which is very bad for you by the way) - I ordered the 'Peace tea' - which was also very yummy and delicious.

Now I'm not a vegan (I'm not even vegetarian as I am the daughter of a chicken farmer and basically reared on meat), but being inside that cafe/ bakery made me insanely happy. I always thought of vegans as stiff people who were afraid of living due to having to wait for their veggies to die before they could eat them. But I am really glad that I was sorely mistaken. Being inside Kindfood was like my soul had come home to rest and that food here was made here like food was meant to be made. Not only did they play upbeat music but the cupcake and tea were so delicious, I stayed for lunch also. I even met a few of the clientele and waiters... It was a very fun filled day indeed.

I ordered the vegan version of a BLT called a BLAT. Bread was completely gluten free - Meat-free B.acon (say what?), L.ettuce, A.vocado and T.omato, with thinly sliced carrots & veganaise (need the recipe for that). 

The meat free bacon was a crunchy smoked something (not totally sure what it was - but I'm not a foodie so please forgive me) and tasted so much better than bacon and left me feeling really great after eating it. All their veggies were so fresh that they reminded me of the salads Crazy Caz used to make for me by picking the ingredients straight from her garden.

The best part about today's whole adventure is that they offer cooking courses. So I'm signing myself up for the very next one available and hope to learn a lot about some great vegan cooking to make for you all back home when I get back (one day down the line in the future that is).

So if you're ever in the Burlington area - or just want to come visit me in the Burlington area (while I'm still living here) seriously consider popping in for lunch or a cupcake or both! I would very seriously recommend it!

P.S. dad I might come home a vegan... Just saying!

A little place called "Home"

 

Burlington

 

Welcome note in our apartment

Hello Hi

I haven’t properly introduced myself. My name is Burlington. You can consider me to be the Stellenbosch of South Africa, as I’m mere minutes away from the wine farms in Canada. Although if you called them wine farms here you would confuse the average Canadian because here they are known as “Vineyards” and calling them wine farms might spark of a series of conversations about the weird things South Africans say.

I would say that I’m the Stellenbosch to Cape Town as I’m only a 40 minute train ride from Toronto, but Toronto is nothing like Cape Town. You can think of my big brother, Toronto, like you would Johannesburg but with far less trees and lives right next to a great big mass of water (also known as 'Lake Ontario" which forms part of The Great Lakes). [For more on Toronto refer to the postings already made on that great big City ;P] I too live right next to this big mass of water, and have heard that even in winter a few very brave souls try to surf the waves of the lake (I am on the hunt for this and will take photo’s once I find it – although I think it’s an old wives tale because the waves in the Lake compare to that on the banks of the Kromme river at high tide – not very big).

Burlington has a population of 165,000 and is considered a city by Canadian standards. I thought it was very small and offended a few when I said I was happy to be living in their town (not city as they believe it is).



Ok so one of my sources is off because this board says 173,000 - but potato patato right?



Burlington’s average temperature (found on a know it all site) can reach highs of 30 degrees in the summer months and lows of up to -8 degrees in the winter months. I think they may been a little off in this as my first weekend in Toronto recorded -16 degree temperature. Burlington is also known to have really great winter snow. Which up to now I’ve had three times – but the locals tell me that the ‘weather phenomenon’  shouldn’t last long and I have at least one big snow storm to look forward to in February. Which to their surprise I really am looking forward too!!




From across the bay - Really Beautiful City by night

 

To the other side of the lake is Niagara. She is one of the 7 wonders of the world (am planning a trip there this weekend) and produces enough electricity to power 3.8 million homes (2,338,000 Kilowatts). Which is absolutely crazy if you think it’s the second largest hydroelectric producers in the world. Photos to follow soon on that one I promise!

I've added a map so that you can kind of figure out where I live in relation to other 'known' places.

So to give you a perspective - A is Toronto, B is Burlington, C are the Niagara Falls which I'll be visiting tomorrow and D is New York where Dax lives - so now you know where I am in the world.

 'Nough' said for now... cheerio folks

HAHAHA - had such a laugh at the welcome note in the boys apartment!!

Trono - take 2

So my first weekend in Toronto was a little wild. So we came back to try it again - see some sites, do a little shopping and see some of the other South Africans JITs who are living in Toronto. It was a little tamer than the previous weekend - but not by much. I have decided to pick up some of my New Years resolutions again and hoping to stay in line.

Dinner compliments of DTT South Africa :)

 Yes that is me carrying a back pack. Am learning to pack light for weekends. Was interest lugging it around Toronto on Friday night.



Playing ping pong at the ping pong bar

 After dinner we ventured out and found an awesome ping pong bar. All bars stop serving alcohol at 2 and this bar closed then also. In true South African style we were the last to leave - but was an awesome experience going to a bar that had so many ping pong tables and people just playing ping pong all over the show.

After that we found a club called Footworks because apparently they stayed open until 5. They did stay open late, but their bars were closed - which in itself was a life saver! So we danced and danced and dances until 5:00AM when we decided it would be a good idea to head to Tim Hortons for an "Everything Bagel double toasted with tomatoe and cream cheese". Now it sounds like it has to be the best bagel in the world - but an "Everything bagel" basically means that it has sesame and poppy seads on it - thats it! We got the bagel and were kind of wondering 'what next'. It was the perfect thing to eat at 5AM in the morning though.  I think you can spot a South African a mile away - some snow + 5 people new to it = snow fight. Was pretty hilarious to watch...

View from the Toronto JITs roof

And then the craziness continued...

Toronto - something out of the Hangover

I was going to tell you about the coldest night of my life (minus 16 degrees), and I was going to tell you what Toronto was like... But if it weren't for my camera I wouldn't have had a clear story of what to tell you. So I thought I would let the pictures speak for themselves.

AMAZING TORONTO



Canadian version of straw-pedos



 

I did manage to take this picture of the CN Tower the next morning - so I did see a little part of Toronto (pronounced Trono). All I'm saying is working a Saturday started the very big night. So much for New Years resolutions...

p.s. my new Canadian friends introduced me to their version of our 'hang-over fry up'. Its called a Poutine.

Its basically potato chips, cheese and gravy. I don't know how they manage to stay so thin in this place - but it was the best dam cure for that Sunday.

Ontario - yours to discover

Hello Hi from Canada.

Burlington was the best decision I've ever made. Or is it Canada? But I can tell you one thing - this place rocks! Auditing not so much - but as they say "We're not here for a long time, we're here for a good time".

I am 2 weeks late with posting my first blog from the very wild (and very cold) west. And for that I'm sorry... What I can say is that I hit the ground running upon arrival in Canada and went straight into 10+ hour work days and a year end deadline.

Leaving South Africa in mild 30 + temperatures caused some packing issues. When you're that hot you cannot imagine being cold so my packing was a little bit of a disaster (not to mention that with a full 50kgs I brought with, I forgot all my shirts in South Africa). However warm shirts are not required here either. Betty (pronounced Batty) our building supervisor arrived at our apartment wearing a T-shirt. Apparently the 8 degree weather on the day we arrived was considered a heat wave in Canada. I thought she was off her head when she took us on a tour of our apartment building and left the building into the cold with no jacket.

Arrival. Canada. Toronto. 7th of January. 

Destination 1: Burlington, Ontario, Canada

Duration: 4 months

View from our apartment

Thus far I have felt and been a complete foreigner/ tourist. I laugh at things constantly because they are so different to what I’m used to from home. I keep forgetting that tax is added at the till, a 25 cent coin is one of the most amusing things I’ve seen and at times I struggle to understand people (and them understand me) even though we’re talking the same language. An e-mail received from work read:

"FYI – IT is down on Saturday – ensure that you have posted all your time to CMS before we leave on Friday so that you are not delinquent. "

Being considered a delinquent still entertains me. But on the positive side – these keep me entertained and very amused – so never a dull moment in Camp Burlington.

I picked up my rental car in the most ominous weather - raining, dark, and misty. I would like to blame it on the weather, but after receiving my key I got into the car on the wrong side of it. I was sitting there thinking – “WOW how spacious is this vehicle!”. The AVIS lady was wondering if giving me a car was a good idea and judging by the look she shot me when I got out to move into the right driving seat – I guessed not. Driving on the ‘wrong’ side of the road (mostly in snow) is going to be entertaining – hopefully tomorrow I’ll get into the right side of the car (well left side of the car but who’s counting).



Note to self - getting used to driving on the 'wrong' side of the road is proving to be tricky. Drove into oncoming traffic on day 2 and have gotten into the passenger side to drive more than once when leaving work (much to my Canadian colleagues delight when I do that).

All in all – the weather has gone from very cold to absolutely freezing and have had snow twice. So I’m loving itJ

 Hello Canada, you beaut!

Good bye South Africa - hello the world

So after packing frantically and being 4 kgs over weight in my checked luggage and at least 8kgs overweight on my hand luggage I braved the airport lounge to figure out how to use my iPad (probably not a wise idea to start blogging from my iPad now when I feel like I look like my dad and a computer) and write a note to you all with a very quick Bon voyage!

Here are my promises to you (and mainly myself):
1. I promise to be a yes woman and say yes to as much as possible
2. To blog as often as possible (hopefully adding photos once I've figured out my iPad)
3. To see as much of the world as I can and have a dam good time doing it.

Please leave comments for me as all communication via this tool would be a amazing! So tonight Paris, tomorrow the world...