Marks are in, thank heavens, and I'd like to thank MG for giving us an extension on the submissions, because somebody foolishly went to two school-related functions Wednesday and Thursday nights, both of which went until late** and so somebody may have been a bit pooped. But I finally have time to write up my final official Coffeenuering post.
The long-awaited Poutine Ride was back on this past Sunday, and we couldn't have asked for better weather. Hyedie, the DC, and I worked in our final coffeeneuring run beforehand -- which was a good thing because if we'd waited until after all that poutine, I think I might have exploded.
Since the ride was starting at Uncle Betty's Diner, we met at Bull Dog Coffee at Yonge and Eglinton. The DC and I went up a bit early. It was a gorgeous day for riding: the last warm day of fall. There was a slight mix-up wherein we thought my Blonde Bull Dog was his chai latte and he downed rather a lot of it before I noticed how chai-y my hot chocolate was. The Blonde Bull Dog is white hot chocolate with dark chocolate syrup and a shot of espresso, but the espresso kind of overpowers the chocolate. It's tasty, but not quite the flavour explosion I was looking for. At any rate, I successfully completed my unofficial goal of having a different drink at each cafe. Yay me.
Hyedie joined us a bit later (she has been coffeeneuring like mad to catch up and got her write-ups finished before me!) and we chatted so much we nearly missed the start of the poutine ride. Didn't help that somebody*** biked right past the diner the first time and we had to turn around and go back a bunch of blocks.
Then it was time for poutine.
For those of you not in the know, poutine is fries with brown gravy and cheese curds. It sounds disgusting, and it is... disgustingly delicious. It is also very filling. The DC and I had a simple strategy for being able to eat two portions in one day: share.
Comped roasted marshmallows!
Then we were off to bike the pretty streets and bike paths of Toronto.
We got to Sherbourne and the much-vaunted separated bike lanes. My impression? Fail. The bollards do not keep cars from parking in the lanes, but they do keep the cyclists from being able to get out and around said cars.
Finally we arrived at Smoke's Poutinerie. I let the DC decide what kind of poutine to get -- there are a lot of options. The DC really likes Smoke's. He thinks the gravy has just the right amount of tanginess.
He eventually settled on pulled pork poutine. Yummy.
I didn't need to eat again until Wednesday.
Because our benevolent overlords on city council have decided that progress is removing bike lanes and that Jarvis was being removed the next day, I decided to take one last memorial ride.
Kind of a sad ending to a beautiful ride.
Mileage: 29 km/18 miles
Click to see the Torontoist or Hyedie's article about the ride.
Click on the title below to see more of my pictures and pithy commentary about the ride, including my Nuovella sister rider!
*Sorry about that.
**Late for a school night. We stayed out 'til ten o'clock! (Tell me more, tell me more...)
***And by somebody, I mean me. This is why we shouldn't put me in front!
The long-awaited Poutine Ride was back on this past Sunday, and we couldn't have asked for better weather. Hyedie, the DC, and I worked in our final coffeeneuring run beforehand -- which was a good thing because if we'd waited until after all that poutine, I think I might have exploded.
Since the ride was starting at Uncle Betty's Diner, we met at Bull Dog Coffee at Yonge and Eglinton. The DC and I went up a bit early. It was a gorgeous day for riding: the last warm day of fall. There was a slight mix-up wherein we thought my Blonde Bull Dog was his chai latte and he downed rather a lot of it before I noticed how chai-y my hot chocolate was. The Blonde Bull Dog is white hot chocolate with dark chocolate syrup and a shot of espresso, but the espresso kind of overpowers the chocolate. It's tasty, but not quite the flavour explosion I was looking for. At any rate, I successfully completed my unofficial goal of having a different drink at each cafe. Yay me.
Hyedie joined us a bit later (she has been coffeeneuring like mad to catch up and got her write-ups finished before me!) and we chatted so much we nearly missed the start of the poutine ride. Didn't help that somebody*** biked right past the diner the first time and we had to turn around and go back a bunch of blocks.
Then it was time for poutine.
For those of you not in the know, poutine is fries with brown gravy and cheese curds. It sounds disgusting, and it is... disgustingly delicious. It is also very filling. The DC and I had a simple strategy for being able to eat two portions in one day: share.
Comped roasted marshmallows!
Then we were off to bike the pretty streets and bike paths of Toronto.
We got to Sherbourne and the much-vaunted separated bike lanes. My impression? Fail. The bollards do not keep cars from parking in the lanes, but they do keep the cyclists from being able to get out and around said cars.
Finally we arrived at Smoke's Poutinerie. I let the DC decide what kind of poutine to get -- there are a lot of options. The DC really likes Smoke's. He thinks the gravy has just the right amount of tanginess.
He eventually settled on pulled pork poutine. Yummy.
I didn't need to eat again until Wednesday.
Because our benevolent overlords on city council have decided that progress is removing bike lanes and that Jarvis was being removed the next day, I decided to take one last memorial ride.
Kind of a sad ending to a beautiful ride.
Mileage: 29 km/18 miles
Click to see the Torontoist or Hyedie's article about the ride.
Click on the title below to see more of my pictures and pithy commentary about the ride, including my Nuovella sister rider!
 |
| From Rambling Through Toronto |
*Sorry about that.
**Late for a school night. We stayed out 'til ten o'clock! (Tell me more, tell me more...)
***And by somebody, I mean me. This is why we shouldn't put me in front!
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