Carmen "Missing Canada Terribly" M.'s Profile

I still don't understand the difference between a clafouti and a tart, but the croissants were outstanding at Clafouti!

I arrived around 11:45am on a weekday and they were already sold out of the pain au chocolat. #fail

I had the chicken salad sandwich instead which was delicious! The croissant was truly yummy.

I had the strawberry pomegranate clafouti, which was okay. I don't really know what I expected but, since I'm mostly a chocolate person, I'm probably not the best judge. It was served cold and didn't have much taste. Meh.

Note: Clafouti is, SURPRISE, cash only.

Why? Why are so many storefronts in Toronto that are cash only? If you can afford to run a business, you can do afford to accept credit cards, or debit at a minimum. I'm looking at you, Lady Marmalade, Clafouti and Okay Okay Diner. At least LM posts "Cash Only" everywhere, and their food is good enough that I don't mind. But Okay Okay? Nope.

I was in a rush and my normal weekend spot, LM, was too busy for me to wait. I went to Okay Diner instead and it was just okay.

The service was just okay. They're not trying to impress anyone, that's for sure. One of my big grievances are places that are a) cash only, but more so, b) don't post it. I went to pay, had no cash and had to schlep over to the 7-Eleven across the street in the rain to pulse out some cash. ANNOYING.

I ordered the vegetarian eggs benny (whose name I can't remember) and it was just okay. As mentioned in prior reviews, the hashbrowns are storebought. The eggs were poached fine, but there was just less of a restaurant taste to my food and more of a low-end bad cook.

As I usually do, I ordered a small side of french toast, which was delicious! Thick, eggy bread and a lovely cinnamon butter on top! The only bad part was the cold syrup they gave me to pour on top. #fail

Also, the latte I had was pretty good.

I wouldn't go here again, but if there's nothing else open, it's not the absolute worst place in the world. But seriously -- they need to tell you that it's cash only BEFORE you are trying to pay.

I waited three years to go up the CN Tower and it was worth the wait. Other than the hour-long line I had to stand it to get up, I couldn't have imagined a better view of our beautiful city.

Splurge to go to the Sky Pod -- 33 stories higher than the main level, it's worth the extra $4.

Stop. Before you do anything else, book yourself an appointment at Body Blitz. Oh dear god, you won't regret it! I just wish I'd gone here sooner than my last day in Toronto. :-(

The good:
- AMAZING therapeutic water circuit. So good, in fact, I did it twice.
- Sauna and steam rooms that rocked my world
- Awesome Moroccan body glow treatment
- Great facilities that are clean and chock full of toiletries (i.e., body blitz-branded shampoo, conditioner, & body wash; blow dryers, deodorant, brushes, combs, hair elastics, etc.)
- Bathing suit optional. This could potentially also fall into the "bad" category, but luckily a) the spa is women only and b) I didn't see any overgrown bushes. Ahem.
- The body glow was 10,000 kinds of awesome

The bad:
- My appointment was messed up, although I'm sure someone just typed in the wrong service. They recovered nicely.
- They didn't tell me that I should have come earlier than my appointment to enjoy the water circuit (which takes an hour), so I ended up ruining my body glow by going through the water circuit after my service. #fail
- The person who showed me around did it so quickly, and as if I was inconveniencing her, that I was actually confused how things worked and had to refer to the laminated board in my locker. And I'm not dumb. #fail
- Had these things not happened, I would have given 5 stars.

Besides those small things, the actual waters are fantastic. Based on Asian and European bathouses, Body Blitz simply must not be missed.

Oh my. Oh dear. Leslie Jones is definitely as good as it gets. It's not pretentious and it doesn't try to be something it's not. Leslie Jones is simply a lovely, inviting place that serves amazingly good food and has fantastically good service.

A warm, breezy summer evening and the front windows of Leslie Jones were open to look out onto Queen Street. They also have a lovely back patio with string lights and umbrellas. Candles lit on the tables brought a warm glow to the room, that was already filled with rustic, comfortable furniture. Bob Dylan on the sound system and jugs of water with lemon and orange slices floating and bobbing.

They bring pita and a delicious hummus to the table to start. For dinner, I had the slow roasted pork with fennel, braised onion and lime chili herb yogurt. DELICIOUS! I finished it off with their homemade carrot cake (sans raisins and nuts) with a cream cheese frosting that was divine.

The service just could not have been any better.

Like I said...oh my!

The hinges and entire backplate on my HP dv9000 came undone and having a laptop where the top doesn't stay up sort of defeats the purpose. I thought about buying a new lappy, but this one works fine and just needed a little TLC. I decided to look for a computer repair shop and, of course, turned to Yelp! My lovely friend Sarah L recommended Contemporary Computer and if she recommends anything remotely "techy", I'm there. Also, it was convenient to my house, too.

I called to ask if they did this kind of repair and Phil knew instantly what model I had...apparently there was a hinge issue with this make/model. He told me they had the parts because it was so common, so I raced over after work to drop it off. He told me it would be a couple of days, but, lo and behold, got a call from him two days later telling me that they didn't, in fact, have the parts and would have to order them. That, he told me, would take two weeks. Needless to say, I was bummed and wished he would have checked before he told me he had the parts. I was able to use my work laptop at home while I was waiting for the parts to come in, and sure enough, about two weeks later, he called to tell me everything was done.

My laptop is like new and the top stays up again. Score! Phil was super nice and I'm sure he didn't mean to make me wait so long. The prices were reasonable and I couldn't be happier.

I've been two more times since my original review and Life is Sweet is just as good the second (and third!) time around.

I've recently tried the mango and the mandarin/earl grey tea flavours, which were both amazing.

The staff has always been nothing but nice and gone out of their to repeat the plethora of flavours over and over again.

Love. This. Place.

In three years of living in Toronto, but traveling quite a bit, I've only ever taken Toronto Airport Express to Pearson. With conveniently located pickups at hotels throughout downtown, you just can't beat the affordability.

- Tickets are $30 round trip, but you get a 10% discount for booking online. You can also buy a ticket on the spot.

- Website gives the travel times and has a helpful planner.

- The drivers are all very nice and always lift my overweight bag with a smile.

- Comfy seats with power outlets on each row.

- Free wifi on the buses!

I had a problem just one time and emailed the company. I got a very kind reply within hours -- they wanted to know what had happened and showed concern about the issue. Awesome!

Seriously, you just cannot beat Toronto Airport Express to get you safely and cheaply to the airport!

For my 100th review, what better to write about than CupcakeCampTO?!

As Sarah L said, this was one bloody awesome event! I got to see Andre G, Sarah L, *and* Kat F all in the same day, so needless to say, this was a stellar occasion. More than 40 bakers brought more than 2,000 cupcakes of every flavor, shape and size, including Orange Creamsicle (my personal fave), a Margarita cupcake, and a "Skinny Elvis" that came complete with blue curacao! After consuming nearly 20 mini cupcakes, I started to go into a sugar coma -- seriously -- and had to leave, but the second annual CupcakeCampTO was an event not to be missed.

P.S. The location -- 52 McCaul -- rocked, too.

After trying two flavors -- chocolate and vanilla -- I was sold! The cupcakes were moist and the icing was delicious! It's the really sweet kind, which I love! The staff was very sweet and the price point is good.

It's a long trip to the Cupcake Shoppe for me, but if I lived closer, I'd definitely be a regular.