A Day in Toronto

Today, I spent my hours learning about the city of Toronto and the culture of the Canadian consumer. It was a very enlightening trip, and I think it will really help me understand the things I need to to do my job better. It was a good day, full of lots of education, and I am completely grateful for the opportunity. But because this blog tends to be more focused on my general life experiences and food ... that's what I really want to talk about!

Lunch - it was really divine. We ate at Luma, a sophisticated lunch spot for downtown Toronto folks (or at least that was my new to Toronto impression.) Now, because this was a business trip, I didn't really feel like I could take out my phone and start taking pictures of my food, but I kind of wish I could have ... because it was really, really pretty. I had a seared albacore tuna w/green beans, on bib lettuce and chickpeas ... it was amazingly refreshing and light. I enjoyed every bite and wanted it to play on my tongue forever. There was this lovely citrus layer in each taste that danced on my tongue. The tuna was light and seared perfectly. I knew that if this was any indication of my day ... it was going to be a great day.

Then, after a long day of walking, learning and asking questions, we met up with our colleague who leaves in Toronto. She gave us a tour of our office buildings and advised me to work at the hotel if I can tomorrow (since there isn't really anything spectacular that I will gain from paying $70 for a taxi to bring me to the office space).

She then took us to a great restaurant called Pure Spirits. I appreciated a local taking us to a preferred restaurant. And while it was a seafood restaurant, I know my limits of seafood is one dish a day ... so I decided to try the pistachio-crusted pork tenderloin that came with a lovely port wine and morel mushroom jus and crispy truffled polenta "cakes." The polenta cakes were interesting, but I only ate one of the two (a little two crispy for me) but the pork was cooked perfectly ... and I could have eaten a plate full of the jus. To top off my meal, I enjoyed a Canadian wine - it was the 13th Street Winery Noirs. It was a delicate wine - not a lot of tannins or bit, so very smooth and the perfect accompaniment to my meal.

All in all, a very satisfying day of great company, excellent food and a fabulous experience that will help me better define and shape further decisions on our approach for providing the best service possible to our employees in Canada.