Victoria - Week 6 where to get the best Carbs

I love carbs. I cannot tell a lie. And Victoria has yielded some of her best carbs to me. Some I have baked myself. Some I have purchased. And the bought ones may be better than the homemade.

This is the cinnamon bun from Discovery Coffee. When I chose it I asked the clerk if their cinnamon buns were good. He said yes. I looked at it skeptically, and wasn't sure. I went out on a limb and bought one, which Fred and I shared. Oh. My. Goodness. The best cinnamon bun I have ever eaten. Dense, chewy, gooey, buttery, cinnamony, and probably more calories than I would ever want to know about. Their coffee is also very good. In fact Victoria has a crap load of independent coffee shops. Way more than Ottawa. Why is that anyway?

We went back to Discovery this week, but the cinnamon buns hadn't been delivered yet. Note to self. Go an hour later next time.

Next we have Portofino's seeded hearth bread. Oh. My. Goodness - part 2. This bread looks ordinary. But it is not. It's chewy. Seedy. Spongy. Delicious. Makes great peanut butter and jam sandwiches. Or toast and peanut butter. Or just eat this bread naked. It all works.

And last but definitely not least, we have the monster scones sold at the Market on Yates. Once again, they feed two people (the picture does not do it justice). Every day they have a different one, blueberry and white chocolate, cranberry and white chocolate, etc. Also savoury ones. Really really good scones. Moist and blueberryiey. Even the white chocolate works and I'm not a big fan of it. Because clearly dark chocolate is better. But in these babies, the white chocolate works. The Market also has an all round fantastic bakery section and an amazing butcher shop.

All the grocery stores in Victoria sell Portofino breads, and there are many different kinds, including gluten free. But I think the seeded hearth bread is the best.

Who says woman can't live by bread alone?

Last day in Europe: London England

Tomorrow we go home to Canada. I miss Canada. Not the weather though. It's been so nice to have temperatures in the low double digits. Oh yea.

A few final thoughts.

Canadians are polite. I never realized that before. Now I do.

I thought the British ate scones. But they are very hard to find. I had one today at the British museum.

The black cabs. Which aren't always black.

The phone booths.

The pub last night. Johanna is drinking a Guinness. I asked for a Smithwicks. The bartender didn't know what a Smithwicks was. I am not kidding. Seems you can only get Smithwicks in Ireland. So sad.

Good-bye London

Happy Birthday to me

Today we went for high tea at the James Bay Tea Room.

We wanted to go for high tea since we have never done this before and being in Victoria and all, it is the thing to do.

The Empress Hotel also has high tea but it costs $75/a head. That's a lot of money for tea and crumpets. I know high tea has a lot more than tea and crumpets, but did we really need to spend that much money? Nope.

We were very pleased with the James Bay Tea Room, and the service was excellent.

I had tea and Fred had coffee.

My tea was in a real tea pot with a cozy on it. And you know what? The tea was actually hot. It seems that something as simple as boiling water is difficult for many restaurants and coffee places. I don't know why it's difficult. All they have to do is put the water in a kettle. Plug it in. Wait until bubbles appear and like magic the water is hot. Simple.

So. The tea was hot. And the goodies were amazing.

First there were two croissants with egg salad, two homemade cheese scones with smoked salmon, and two tiny quiches. The egg salad and croissant was exceptional. Didn't taste like the egg salad I make. And the cheese scones were light flavourful and fresh, with a good slab of salmon, my of my it was good.

Then there was the scones with clotted cream and jam. I didn't have these but had a bite of Fred's. (I did bring what we didn't eat home though). I've always wondered what clotted cream was. Fred said to me well maybe it's like the unpasteurized warm milk you used to get on the farm that was warm and straight from the cow and used to make you gag? I said no I don't think so.

Turns out it is sort of like thick whipped cream that isn't too sweet but probably has a ton of calories.

The scone again was excellent.

And the dessert was little baby carrot cakes with cream cheese icing and little custard tarts. And the best? Sticky toffee pudding cake. Oh. My. Goodness. It was to die for. Maybe even better than chocolate. I can't believe I just said that.

We did walk around for about 45 minutes after lunch, I mean tea. Which was a good thing. So many carbs. So little time.

And all of this (tax and tip included) for less than half of what it wold have cost us for the two of us at the Emperor Hotel for high tea.

I don't know but I think Ottawa should do high tea. Very civilized.

Return to Ireland - Irish Artist Michael Hanrahan

This morning Fred and I walked to ennnistymon again. I hadn't planned on taking any more pictures but apparently I couldn't stop myself.

Anyway you won't see those pictures today because when I get back to Canada I'll get Maureen to make me one of her lovely videos with the pictures (right Moe?).

We were going to the bus stop to go back to Lahinch after our scone and coffee at Ginger Lou's, when we bumped into Michael Hanrahan.

We had met Michael when we are here three years ago. He is a lovely Irish artist and my daughter's had bought one of his prints of a beautiful painting he had done of Lahinch.

Today we went into his gallery in Ennistymon and he showed is what he is currently working on. See below. It is a lovely work of something similar he painted before (that was sold), to commemorate the Queen's visit to Ireland in 2011.

"Michael was the only artist accredited to paint the historical occasion of her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's State visit to Ireland in May 2011. This was the first visit of a British Monarch to Ireland since independence in 1922. One of Hanrahan's paintings commemorating the visit is now in the Royal collection."

This is Michael's second painting to go to Buckingham Palace.