A feast for the senses

I dropped my assignment off this morning, bright and early, and then set off on my day - the beginning of Reading Week (aka Spring Break). I decided to get a few things from H & M before I met up with a dear friend for coffee. I had plans to watch a movie by myself in the afternoon but there wasn't much to choose from...plus, I forgot the free passes at home. (I think I'll go to Friday the 13th next week. I've never been to a horror movie by myself and am curious to see how frightening the experience might be.)

I thought I would do some window shopping to see what was new and exciting for spring, as well as visit Sephora to slather on some of my favorite Guava butter lotion by Korres. Afterwards, I spent quite a bit of time looking through books at Chapters. While I was roaming around downtown, I felt very bored and restless. Nothing seemed to satiate my ennui. Even as I wrote in my journal, I felt a malaise. When I got home, I was surprised to find J in the same state of mind. We commiserated about places we longed to be and lamented about others we had not yet been to. To stifle our pity-party, we decided to force ourselves to go out for dinner, (though we were sure it wouldn't remedy how we were feeling).

Isn't it nice to be caught off guard and proven wrong every so often? J, H & I had the most wonderful experience on our little sojourn. Dinner at Commensal was exactly what we needed - delicious food and the loveliest live music. If you're ever in Toronto, you really must check it out. It's a vegetarian restaurant with hot and cold buffets, including an array of desserts and beverages (it's also licensed so you can enjoy a glass of wine with dinner). If you're vegan, there's a great selection available such as Seitan Bourguignon (tender cubes of savoury seitan in a rich red wine sauce with sautéed pearl onions and whole mushrooms), Millet Pie (tofu, mushrooms, onions, leeks and millet grain wrapped in a light crust) and Thai Seitan (seitan with a tangy, maple syrup and cider vinegar sauce) - a sampling of some of the items on my plate this evening. The buffet is available for take-out and there are also a number of additional vegetarian and vegan goodies for purchase. We left feeling happy and full. We even talked about Commensal being our new 'Friday night'.

On the drive home, we decided to see what was happening downtown, including Queen Street. We drove by a concert at Nathan Phillips Square where there was also public skating. There were so many people out enjoying the beautiful weather everywhere we went. The city felt alive with activity. It seemed like Toronto was saying, "In your face!" and reminding us of what an exciting city it is to live in and we were grateful for that reminder.