Utilitaire-12 task #4: Bike to dinner = Cream tea at MoRoCo Chocolat.
I finished my England pictures at the end of October last year, but I am only just now treating myself to my reward: cream tea.
Before I got to England, if you'd asked me what a cream tea was, I would have said tea with cream in it (and then made a face, because cream is too heavy for tea). My second day in London, however, I learned to my delight and my waistline's regret that the cream in cream tea refers to the clotted cream you put on the scones that come with it. I had cream tea almost every day that I was in England. And then again on the Queen Mary. When I wasn't having Afternoon Tea, which usually comes with scones and clotted cream anyway.
It's a fine, fine thing, is what I'm saying, and I was really happy to see that MoRoCo serves cream tea. Cream tea! In Toronto!
Naturally, it's a bit expensive at $18. And it comes with lemon curd instead of the jam I'd prefer. But the lounge is very elegant; it's worth it for a trip to the bathroom alone. You can choose your tea (I had something with a soupçon of chocolate) and it comes in a silver pot with a tea strainer that you sometimes forget to use. The sugar is rock sugar, which looks lovely but is not practical because it takes forever to dissolve. The scones are light, the clotted cream tastes good, and all is right with the world.
I had invited all and sundry to have tea, and I was joined by my friend L who is on maternity leave. She jumped at the opportunity to wear her faux-fur stole. We gossiped about work and boys and other stuff just like ladies wholunch drink tea, then afterwards we went to the boutique. I bought macarons, naturally, and L bought Big Boyfriend Treats for her husband -- chocolate in the shape of dog bones. I walked her back to her house and then rode the rest of the way home. A lovely evening.
Mileage: From Jarvis & Wellesley to Yorkville, then from there home (with about a km of walking in the middle): 7.1 km/4.4 miles.
I'm supposed to say something about the actual biking part for the Utilitaire-12. I came from work, and like yesterday I biked, slightly painfully, up Bay street because I thought it would be easier than trying to make a left turn from Yonge. Yes, well, it turns out that Yorkville Ave* is a one-way street in the wrong direction to come from Bay. I wound up biking (very slowly) on the bricked-over strip beside the sidewalk which kept me away from the pedestrian traffic.
Yorkville Ave. has lots of bike parking but not enough bikes to use it. People should leave their bikes here! There is room for bikes! Other parts of the neighbourhood have stylish yet impractical bike parking, but these are the good old ring and posts. I will say that I am pleased that I had a pretty bike to leave on the pretty street. I confess to a no-doubt shallow feeling of embarrassment when I would park the Tank on Yorkville because it stuck out like an extremely sore thumb. Yorkville is kind of swank and the Tank... let's just say it has not aged well.
I'm counting this as dinner for Utilitaire purposes because a) it was in the evening, b) I didn't have anything else to eat when I got home, and c) in this crazy mixed-up world where people eat pizza for breakfast, I can certainly have tea and scones for dinner. DON'T JUDGE ME!
I finished my England pictures at the end of October last year, but I am only just now treating myself to my reward: cream tea.
Before I got to England, if you'd asked me what a cream tea was, I would have said tea with cream in it (and then made a face, because cream is too heavy for tea). My second day in London, however, I learned to my delight and my waistline's regret that the cream in cream tea refers to the clotted cream you put on the scones that come with it. I had cream tea almost every day that I was in England. And then again on the Queen Mary. When I wasn't having Afternoon Tea, which usually comes with scones and clotted cream anyway.
It's a fine, fine thing, is what I'm saying, and I was really happy to see that MoRoCo serves cream tea. Cream tea! In Toronto!
Naturally, it's a bit expensive at $18. And it comes with lemon curd instead of the jam I'd prefer. But the lounge is very elegant; it's worth it for a trip to the bathroom alone. You can choose your tea (I had something with a soupçon of chocolate) and it comes in a silver pot with a tea strainer that you sometimes forget to use. The sugar is rock sugar, which looks lovely but is not practical because it takes forever to dissolve. The scones are light, the clotted cream tastes good, and all is right with the world.
I had invited all and sundry to have tea, and I was joined by my friend L who is on maternity leave. She jumped at the opportunity to wear her faux-fur stole. We gossiped about work and boys and other stuff just like ladies who
Mileage: From Jarvis & Wellesley to Yorkville, then from there home (with about a km of walking in the middle): 7.1 km/4.4 miles.
I'm supposed to say something about the actual biking part for the Utilitaire-12. I came from work, and like yesterday I biked, slightly painfully, up Bay street because I thought it would be easier than trying to make a left turn from Yonge. Yes, well, it turns out that Yorkville Ave* is a one-way street in the wrong direction to come from Bay. I wound up biking (very slowly) on the bricked-over strip beside the sidewalk which kept me away from the pedestrian traffic.
Yorkville Ave. has lots of bike parking but not enough bikes to use it. People should leave their bikes here! There is room for bikes! Other parts of the neighbourhood have stylish yet impractical bike parking, but these are the good old ring and posts. I will say that I am pleased that I had a pretty bike to leave on the pretty street. I confess to a no-doubt shallow feeling of embarrassment when I would park the Tank on Yorkville because it stuck out like an extremely sore thumb. Yorkville is kind of swank and the Tank... let's just say it has not aged well.
I'm counting this as dinner for Utilitaire purposes because a) it was in the evening, b) I didn't have anything else to eat when I got home, and c) in this crazy mixed-up world where people eat pizza for breakfast, I can certainly have tea and scones for dinner. DON'T JUDGE ME!
*Why is it called an avenue? It's not wide enough to be an avenue!
Great job on your retroactive utilitaire posts, and I love how you are updating the control card as you go!
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