Walk in the Park.

When I was working at St. Claire in mid-town Toronto, we spent after- lunch hours either sipping coffee at Seattle's Best with our friend Alborz, taking a walk with a group of guys from the office who, like me, wanted to burn out sugar and calories, doing the grocery, browsing at the shelves of  Dollar Store for bargain tools and paint brushes and cables, etc, or browsing the shelves of  a rental video.

Summertime Salsa Dancing in St. Claire

In one of our walks, someone discovered a beautiful trail, which we soon frequented. The trail was full of lovely, Canadian houses with picture-perfect gardens. One will be fooled of its location; it was a rich man's private enclave within an old city neighbourhood.

Hidden gem in busy St. Claire neighbourhood

There were afternoons when we took a walk to a Portuguese bakery and had our coffee there and a purchase of a Lotto ticket.

There were other parks within walking distance from our office and sometimes, for no reason at all, we'd take our packed lunch and consume it at a park.

One of the many parks in the City of Toronto

Loblaw's at the corner of St. Claire and Bathurst is one of our favorite groceries. Then,  there's a Timothy's Coffee nearby and a few Filipino grocers and dine-in, take-out fast foods along St. Claire.

Our favorite Italian Restaurant in the area was Ferro's, and on Tuesdays, we'd cross to Kentucky Fried Chicken for their Toonie Tuesday offers.

Coffee was always overflowing in any meeting or function in Toronto; doughnuts and cookies were always present, too.

And during cocktails or parties, there was the ever present cheese - lots of it in different varieties.