Loblaws - Can You Believe It?

Toronto is one of the best food cities in the world. At any given time, whatever area you are in, there is a bevy of cuisines available - Japanese, Thai, Indian, Italian. And if you feel like making pad thai or beef with chinese broccoli, you can pick up the ingredients at your local grocery store.

What a wonderful world.

And it keeps getting better. I get my fruit and veggies at my local f&v stand (and on the weekends, I pick up a few goodies at either the Kensington or St. Lawrence Market), but recently I have been getting a few things at my neighbourhood Loblaws.

After searching for years for an accessible place to buy Meyer lemons, Loblaws had a bag of 5 for $2.49! I was thrilled. I went home and stuffed pork chops with slices of lemon, sauteed mushrooms and fresh basil leaves, drizzled it with lemon juice and olive oil and stuck it in the oven with baby potatoes. I served it with a hearty stuffing and purple broccoli and we couldn't get enough of it. Now I'm thinking I'll make some shrimp and lemon pasta (with fresh basil or maybe dill) on the weekend - fresh and summery for this time of year, exactly what we need!!

Last night I went back into Loblaws to pick up some snacks for a get together we were having later - they have a great selection and wonky choices like Tomato Pretz from I think Hong Kong, and things like fragrant Onion Rings and Shrimp Sticks.

On my way to the bakery for something sweet, I passed by a container of cherry sized heirloom tomatoes of every colour - yellow, orange, red, dark purple and green - $3.99! I would have snapped up one or two, but I had yellow tomatoes from the market waiting for me at home.

A couple of weeks ago, a similarily colourful bunch appeared at the end of the onion aisle - a bag of mini potatoes - red, white, brown and purple - for only $1.99.

While it's not just multi-coloured collections that I'm after, I am so excited about my trips to Loblaws now, because who knows what I'll find and come home with!

- Stephanie