birthday-donuts

I spent the first half of this month preparing for Thanksgiving and the rest of the month celebrating my birthday! There were lots of good eats and fun things happening this month, so here we go:

  • I tried to go to the Luke’s Diner pop-up that Netflix put on so I could grab a coffee but it was a mob scene! I asked a girl on her way out how long she waited and she said TWO AND A HALF HOURS. I’m a huge Gilmore Girls fan, but I don’t have time for that! Instead I got out my GG mug I bought on the Warner Brothers Studio Tour in 2005, and my FOMO decreased automatically.
  • My friend from work surprised me with birthday treats from Roselle, which has been on my list of bakeries to visit since the summer! We had a turtles-esque tart and an earl grey cake with lavender, and both were absolutely delicious!
  • Byn’s Birthday Bonanza happened with stops at Montecito, Byblos, the lobby bar at the Ritz-Carleton, Fring’s and Belfast Love. Shout to my friends Krishna, Weedy & Jen for organizing this night, I’ll never forget it! (Check out my Instagram for the details of each stop).
  • Kristine and I did a little Hamilton Tour of Treats, although “tour” is a stretch as there was only one place we wanted to go to: Cake & Loaf Bakery. We’d both been following them on Instagram and drooling over their amazing looking treats, so we finally got to check it out! I picked up so many things: smoked caramels, a butter tart WITH RAISINS (like the only time I ever want to see a raisin in my baked goods), homemade twix bar, pumpkin spice cinnamon bun and a skor sandwich cookie. This is our new favourite place!
  • We also went to Earth to Table Bread Bar for lunch, which is just a short walk from Cake & Loaf, and it was so good! We split a pizza with apple, bacon and caramelized onions, a fall harvest kale salad and truffle fries. Loved everything!
  • I spent my actual birthday with The Tasty Gardener & The Brunette Baker at the Toronto Baker’s Market. There was tons to choose from, but my favourite treat of the day was Donut Monster (pictured up top)! We grabbed a half dozen to share, and tried flavours like Peach Pie Bullseye, Blueberry Basil, Raspberry Habanero and Concord Grape Jelly Filled. Yeast donuts are my fave, so these hit the spot!

Other non-foodie things I was obsessed with this month:

  • Hands down, #1 obsession this month was the discovery of the How to Cake It channel on You Tube! I love, love, love Yolanda and have been trying to get caught up on all the videos in the archives. She makes some truly magical cakes, and I’m currently deciding which of these two cakes (coffee or junk food) to make for some Gilmore Girls viewing at the end of November!
  • I went to my first Drake concert, but left asking myself, am I not as big of a Drake fan as I thought I was? I could NOT keep up with the all the millennials there who knew every single word to every single song. Still had fun though, rapping along to all the songs I did know. A true OVO fest for me and Aubrey.
  • Kristine’s cousin had a Halloween party, and as I just finished watching it on Netflix, we went as Jessica Jones & Trish, the easiest/laziest costumes ever (basically just regular clothes + a leather jacket, fingerless gloves and a bottle of bourbon for Jessica/Kristine // headphones and a blazer for me/Trish). Hey, at least we tried, and K got recognized in Superstore!

Flashback!