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Helloo everyone! I just got back from New York a couple of hours back, and boy was it a hectic three days! Tons of travelling, and of course lots of crazy shopping! More on that in the next post, but for now I thought I simply had to share what I think might just be the best ice cream I’ve ever had, period.

When I was reading up a bit about Toronto before I got here, I had chanced upon Greg’s Ice Cream before, but had completely forgotten about it until I was strolling around the streets near the hotel I’m staying at and saw a long queue for it at about 11pm at night! I came back the next afternoon where there wasn’t a crowd to try it – and that was the start of the a-cup-a-day program.

Greg’s Ice Cream has all sorts of innovative flavours – my very first cup (as pictured) was that of Roasted Marshmallow and Coffee Toffee, in a medium sized cup. And let me tell you, their “medium” sized cup is larger than the large cup in just about every ice cream establishment I’ve seen! It’s HUGE! There must be about 3/4 of a pint in there! But size doesn’t matter if the ice cream isn’t worthy, but oh, oh baby. It instantly made the Singapore ice cream parlours look bad. The ice cream is super thick and creamy (everything dairy seems to be better here), luscious and natural tasting, with flavours that live up to their names. The Roasted Marshmallow had that slightly burnt taste – I don’t know how they managed to put the flavour of a marshmallow roasting on a stick over a campfire into an ice cream but they did it. The Coffee Toffee has a brilliant coffee taste with nice chunks of toffee studded throughout, and if you’re lucky there’s some extra big chunks!

I’ve since also tried their White Chocolate, Sweet Cream, and countless more servings of their Roasted Marshmallow, and they’re all great. It has spoiled me for other ice creams – the other ice creams I’ve tried since then just haven’t been able to compare.

Ever realised that ice cream always tastes good whatever the weather? Even when it’s freezing cold, it tastes wonderful! To more ice cream in the world, everyone!

Several days in and I’m slowly getting a bit more familiar with Toronto, a baby step at a time! There’s so many things that differ from Singapore – the friendliness of the people here, for one, is amazing. I was walking down the road on the first day and several people just shouted out a “Good Morning!” and gave a bright smile, before continuing on their way. When I get lost in the subway, a random stranger would just offer help spontaneously without my saying a word. Every day someone in the lift would strike up a conversation just for fun, and it all goes towards making me feel welcome into the country. It’s so unlike Home, where people keep to themselves and rarely interfere with others.  So many times when I’ve asked for some help with directions people would just increase their walking speed and go “I don’t know I don’t know”, like there’s an inherent fear that trouble will arise. If there’s a fight going on, it’s likely that most of us will either stand at a side and watch, or just walk on, but do nothing about it.

Then there’s the service, which is spectacular. I’m very much for the tipping culture, and sincerely wish that Singapore would adopt it! Good service can be found everywhere here – from the department store to the cab to the restaurants to the fast food outlets. The thing with tipping is that the consumer is not forced to pay a fixed amount – if you’re unhappy with the service, don’t tip! And when the service is good, you’ll find that you’re more than happy to give a tip (at least, I feel that way). Tips are normally around 10% of the bill, which is similar to the compulsory Service charge in Singapore anyway! Plus, most times the tip goes to the person that serves you and it just feels like something more personal.

One of the odd things here in Toronto though, is that taxes are never included in anything – including the ice cream from your ice cream parlour and the chocolate bar from the supermarket. Yup – all the prices stated in the supermarket have not taken taxes into account – which means that it’s hard to calculate the final checkout price of your basket load of goods before you hit the counter. Quite a confusing thing!

In a few hours I’m off to New York for a weekend shopping trip! Enjoy the weekend my dear readers!

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What a day it has been! I’m quite exhausted and sitting in the hotel lobby now (so that I can get internet connection!) blogging about the day before I forget the details. Today we made a trip down to Niagara Falls to see this waterfall on steroids! The weather was so great today too – if a bit too sunny and hot for my liking. But the skies were blue and so clear, and the clouds looked like fluffy cotton candy.

Perfect weather for a day out!

Along the way to the Falls, we caught the sight of all the Niagara Wineries along Niagara-on-the-lake and made a short wine tasting stop. Niagara is famous for producing super sweet ice wine, which sounds like a lot of work as they pluck the grapes in the middle of freezing weather. Whew.

And then we stopped at this cute little chapel which is the smallest chapel in the world! It is so cute it looks like a doll’s house! The whole thing must be about 3 metres in length and can fit probably 4 adults in it, but it’s a full ‘chapel’. I wonder who built it and why, but it’s absolutely adorable!

I just love this picture – too pretty!

Then, we stopped at this scenic spot which shows the boarders of USA (left) and Canada (right), separated only by a small lake of water that comes from the Falls. The thought that two huge countries are so close to each other is really quite something.

And then we hit the Falls! We got tickets to the Maid fo the Mist boat ride that brings you all the way to the base of the Canadian Fall – otherwise known as the ‘horseshoe’ fall, because if it’s “U” shape. I didn’t know that USA and Canada had their own Falls. The USA one is much smaller and less impressive though, but amazing nevertheless!

This is the Rainbow Bridge that connects Canada and USA. Imagine crossing the border and being treated to the spectacular views of the Falls each and every time!

The USA Falls! The sheer mass of water that pushes over the edge every second of every day is breathtaking.

The Canadian Falls! It’s so huge with so much force of water that there is this large column of mist that forms and rises to the sky where you can literally watch it form a new cloud in front of your eyes! It’s harder to capture the full Falls though, due to all the mist!

The Maid of the Mist brought us all the way ‘into the mist so there was a panoramic view of the falling, crashing water all around us. Thank goodness they provide raincoats for every passenger or we’d be drenched! The most amazing thing is that just before the fall is a very calm-looking lake – you’d never imagine that such a large and sharp fall was going to appear the next moment. Mother nature can be so amazing – I’m learning to appreciate nature bit by bit since coming to Toronto. Been too much of a city girl all my life!

Once we were done with the Falls we went back to the town area just a short walk away where all the Niagara Falls hotels are, and its home to this place called Clifton Hills, where it’s been made into a tourist-y Vegas-looking area! All sorts of attractions, Ripley’s Believe it or not, a haunted houses, a wax museum, everything!

It’s a stark contract to the natural wonder just minutes away, but I suppose it sprang up to cater to all the tourists who were already flocking to the Falls. We just ate and then strolled along the streets taking in all the sights, before it was time to go back to Toronto – a 2 hour ride away.

Am throughly tired out but contented now. Every moment of every day has been an opportunity to discover something new, to learn more about this place and pop the bubble I’ve grown up in. There’s so many things about Toronto that are so facinating, but more about that next time! Have a lovely day ahead everyone!

Tim Hortons is the quintessential Canadian coffee-and-donut shop, with thousands of outlets countrywide! I’ve seen one on practically every corner, and what is more surprising is that I’ve only seen one measly Macdonalds outlet so far. And I love Tim Hortons! Coffee, or other hot beverages like my favourite English Toffee, and really cheap, where all cup sizes from small to large cost between CAD$1 and CAD$2  only. There’s a huge, huge variety of donut flavours including my favourites Maple Dip, Original Glazed and Boston Cream,all for just CAD$0.90 each! It’s just about the most affordable and easy-to-grab breakfast there is. I’ve been downing about 3 donuts every day since I’ve arrived, oops!

The donuts here are very different from those back in Singapore – what we’re used to are the much more yeasty version which are much lighter and more bread-like, while those here are much densier, more moist and cake-like. While those in Singapore tend no to taste good once they ain’t hot anymore, and rock-hard the day after, Tim Hortons donuts still taste great when they’re cold! It’s my new daily bread – why eat plain bread when there’s donuts? Oh Homer Simpson, I’m going to look like you soon!

My temporary home in the hotel room!

One thing I’ve learnt from trying to settle into a new country is that hunting for an apartment and choosing the perfect one is a really tough job! There are so many factors to take into consideration and everyone prioritizes the competing factors differently – the place you stay in the end is such a personal choice that is an extension of the person you are. I’ve been hunting online for months now, and when looking through the lists of available spaces the biggest concern will of course be location, location, location! The location determines everything – is there a subway nearby so transportation is easy and convenient? Which subway line is it and will I have to travel a long time to places I think I’ll frequent (school, shopping, etc). Will I have to walk a lot outdoors especially during the freezing cold months? What kind of crowd lives there? Is the area safe? Can I get the apartment in time?

Then there’s other things to think about – like whether it’s better to stay alone and enjoy having a whole apartment to call my own, or to stay with a roommate/housemates and have more company.

There’s definitely also the price factor – I cannot possibly afford my dream option of having my own apartment in a high-end, safe district – I really wish I could! There are so many pretty apartments around but they’re all out of my budget! In the end the never-ending lists of options become reduced to a mere handful once all the factors are taken into account.

I think I’ve found the right apartment that balances out safety, convenience and price that fits my wallet. The highlights of the place – fantastic location at the heart of downtown (think Orchard Road!), 24 hour concierge and security (unlike in Singapore, most condominiums in Toronto don’t actually have security), a really nice new building with good amenities, direct underground link to shopping and the subway (very handy during the winter months!), an the subway is something like our City Hall station at which two lines intersect.

The down side? The apartment is pretty small, and I’ll be sharing it with the landlord. My room itself is tiny and at the moment quite dreary really. I’m determined to spruce it up till it’s all pretty and cosy though! I shall take a before and after picture to see how good my space management and interior designing skills (on a budget!) are ;)

Off to buy cleaning supplies and clean up the apartment!