Neighbourhood #11 - Little India

Alright, time to spice things up a little bit!  Finally a neighbourhood I've been really yearning to acquaint myself with.  I visited once a few years ago for a sari purchase and fitting.  I was telling Simona how the seamstress was a little handsy but my discomfort didn't seem to bother her in the least.  I haven't had the occasion to use that sari since but it was a pretty fun experience to wear one.

Not far from Sim's new hood, we found ourselves at the wrong Coxwell and Gerrard.  My instincts told me to turn left, if the TTC was turning left I should have known Gerrard was split.  We weaved our way through a ressie area and dipped south until we were back on Gerrard and grabbed a sweet parking spot, right outside what would end up to be our last destination.

The sun was already starting to set (my bad on being held up at work), but we headed West towards Greenwood and happened upon the MOST AMAZING CAFE.  We walked in, and it was unfortunately completely empty.  Fortunate for us, but unfortunate for all of the fools letting this gem escape them.  It's called The Social Gardener.  The ambiance was really chill, the playlist was a total hit, and the drinks were delish!  I got a hot apple cider with a nice big chunk of cinnamon in it, and Sim opted for the Maple Latte which they offered in decaf, and we split a peppermint nanaimo bar.  My all time favourite dessert bar with a wonderful twist.  We had our traditional set of BG which Sim annihilated me on and then we had to wrap it up and go, as the night was growing nearer.

We headed back East and came across a restaurant I had been snooping online called Bombay Chowpatty.  They had some really solid reviews.  When we went in they didn't have the Veggie Pakora made up and the guy said if we gave him 30 minutes he could have some ready.  I detected a sense of reluctance in his voice, but we were set on eating there and we were set on Pakora, so we placed our order and headed out.

Next stop was a sari store.  We just kind of cruised around looking at their offerings, with a sales woman tailing us, even as far as cornering us at one point with no escape routes.  There was no one else in the store, I could tell she wanted the sale, but there was no sale to be had.  We did our perusing and carried on.  Next up was a really cool looking coffee shop that was just closing as we entered.  "Hmmm, that's odd that the door sign says closed" I thought as we entered anyways.  Whoooops.  That was short lived, but definitely worth a revisit.

Then there was a small art gallery we did a walk around in.  Some interesting stuff.  I did quite enjoy a photo from a fruit market in Bali.  And after that was a quick walk around a cutsie cute kitchen and cute stuff shop.  Sim found the new scent for her home.  A little bit of a fresh outdoorsy meets indie Toronto wares shop kind of a scent.

I'm kind of breezing over the other stores for two reasons.  First, it was a bit of a short visit, and a bit of a small neighbourhood.  But also because next was the best part of the evening, the dinner.  We headed back to Bombay Chowpatty and the guy seemed somewhat shocked we were back.  We concluded he hadn't really started making any pakora, but he did start when we got there and let me tell you, between that and the Samosa Chaat, it was welllll worth the wait.  The veggie pakora was good but the samosa chaat was sooooo good.  And the guy was super nice.  He even suggested some other dishes we might try if we came back.  We paid up and got back into the car, and Sim had the great idea of calling back to Spence to see if he wanted some Indian food.  So it was back into BC to put in another order of the chaat.  We waited just a short while, and as Sim was clearing it up the guy told us he also made us an order of Masala fries for free.  They were super tasty when I dug around the cilantro.  Pttttttth, gross.  Also, yaaay free stuff.

Back to Sim and Spence's new awesome home for some chill time with the dogs and a few rounds of Pandemic.  Mins took a nap with Jasmine and it was totally adorable.  SO CUTE.  By the time all that was done I was just poopered.  I was running on low after a night of tossing and turning.  Getting up at 5:30 this week has been killing me, but I've become surprisingly good at not snoozing my alarm.  Or I should say only snoozing once or twice (5-10 mins).  It just becomes the most brutal when you don't get to sleep until 1 or 2am.  Dean is back in the office next week.  I want to say what a relief but none of us know what to expect.  I guess we'll find out.

Alvida for now.