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May 20, 2012

Long weekend at Niagara-on-the-Lake

The May long weekend is always a fun one for me because it usually falls around my birthday. When I was younger I was convinced the Victoria Day fireworks were actually for my birthday. This year it falls on Wednesday, but the weekend is always a good time to celebrate. I started the weekend with a particular sweet treat: Some cupcakes from a London bakery, "Hey Cupcake:" red velvet and smores flavour. Not wanting to sound like too much of a food snob, I had to see how they measured up to Toronto cupcakes. Buying cupcakes seems to be more of a "thing" in  Toronto, but it could be because there's more selection. My verdict? The cupcakes were pretty good although the icing was quite "mousse" like and I usually like it on the sweeter, crunchier side; that's just me. They were massive cupcakes for the price ($2.69). I was rather impressed overall.

For dinner on Friday we had steak fajitas with guacamole and salsa. I hate peppers, so I grilled some zucchini instead and it actually worked well in the fajitas. Yesterday, because we're clearly 80-years-old, we went to the Shaw Festival to see "Ragtime" (it was even a matinee). I usually have to see one or two summer theatre shows a year whether it's at the Stratford Festival or elsewhere. This year I was excited to see this show at the Shaw Festival. We decided instead of a fancy dinner afterwards we would go for a nice lunch instead before the show.

There are a ton of food options on Niagra-on-the-lake --some in the rather high price range. I chose the Epicurean. It's a cafeteria-style bistro restaurant with salads, sandwiches and freshly baked quiches. I got the cashew curry chicken sandwich on pumpernickel bread: Mike got a sun dried tomato and chevre quiche with a caesar salad: Yes, we're that annoying couple that shares everything when we go to restaurants. The quiche was probably the creamiest, cheesiest quiche I have ever tasted and the crust was huge. They had a bunch of different flavours, like seafood, leek and mushroom and broccoli and cheddar. It was a little too filling for me. I liked the sandwich, which was extremely fresh and jam packed with veggies and chicken. During the intermission of the show we chilled on the theatre terrace. It was a nice day and kind of a shame to spend the afternoon in a dark theatre although definitely worth it to see the show. Afterwards we walked back downtown and braved the crowds at Cows Ice Cream for dessert. You can't argue with "Canada's best ice cream" right? I ate mine too quickly to snap a picture, but it was heavenly peanut butter cup flavoured.

There are still two more days to fill of the long weekend, so I'm planning on some sunny patio time and board game playing. I've decided on Wednesday for my actual birthday I'm going to be dramatic and cut my hair really short, a.k.a Carey Mulligan-style. I feel like I need a change and a fresh, new look for the summer. Here's to another birthday and a new year! Labels: cupcakes, local food, restaurant

