Toutons, Birch Beer, and Waiting

This morning began with a bit of a sense of relief that I wasn’t sleeping in a tent. Rain and wind moved in overnight and stuck around all morning. The forecast was calling for up to 15 mm per hour all morning. After venturing out for breakfast it certainly seemed like the forecast was right.

I met up with Janis again and we headed to Zachary’s Cafe for breakfast – only to find out that Zachary’s is closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Sigh. With the parking meter already topped up and the rain still pouring down we moved over to the next cafe (about 20 m away). I’m ashamed to admit that I didn’t even notice the name of the place – I was just happy it was open for breakfast. But it gets better. Not only was it open for breakfast but after briefly perusing the menu I noticed that toutons were available. For the record, I’d never heard of toutons before this trip but was told that they are a traditional Newfoundland delight. More specifically, toutons are bread dough fried on a pan with butter or pork fat and served with dark molasses or corn syrup. So, I ordered a ham & cheese omelette and a touton on the side.

I didn’t really have any expectations of the touton but when it arrived it was puffier than I expected – hmmmm … so much for not having expectations. Anyway, it looked good. I mean, it’s fried bread. I topped it off with some molasses and gave it a try. The verdict? It was in fact very good. Again, it’s fried bread. How could it not be good? Between toutons and poutine my arteries should be 100% blocked by sometime on Thursday.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful as it was spent getting some groceries, a new charger for my phone, and checking in on the status of my bike. The last of that list was clearly the most important. Unfortunately, there was no news on that front. I was a little disappointed that the bike shop hadn’t gotten to my bike yet but they hadn’t. As such, waiting is all I can do. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll get my bike back.

Without my bike I was left to wander the streets of downtown. The results of my wandering were mixed. I had it on good authority where I could go for the best chocolate croissants so wandering in that direction seemed like a good plan. Unfortunately, it was a good plan with a very sad ending. The bakery with the best chocolate croissants was closed when I arrived. But it gets worse. It is closed for their annual holidays and won’t be reopening until September. Sigh. No “best chocolate croissants” for me.

Not one to wallow over such things I moved on. And, in moving on, I found another Newfoundland delight that had been recommended to me – birch beer. As of this moment I’ve yet to open it so the verdict is still pending. Although, that will likely change before the end of the day. Either way, I was able to get toutons and birch beer today so I think that makes for a successful day. Still haven’t had a fishcake or cod tongues yet. Maybe tomorrow.

The biggest surprise of the day came when the sun actually made an extended appearance. Around noon the rain stopped and the clouds were being ushered away. It was definitely a pleasant surprise. It made wandering around downtown significantly more enjoyable. Wanting to take advantage of the sun as much as possible, I also ended up going for an evening walk around Quidi Vidi Lake – watching the sunset in the process.