TnTnMe!

This morning I woke up to sunshine and singing birds. I decided that this was not a day to be wasted and to head up to my favourite destination point in all of Toronto--TnT Supermarket!! I prepped by checking the TnT website for their weeky specials, emptying my backpack to lighten the load, and putting on comfy shoes for the trek. Then I walked to the steet car stop to begin my journey... street car to the Dundas West subway station, from Dundas West to Yonge/Bloor, from Yonge/Bloor to the Yonge Subway line, from there up to Finch subway, from Finch subway to the #39 bus, and on the bus, a 20 minute bus ride down Steeles Avenue to Walden!! Phew, just writing the directions makes me tired!

But once at TnT I forgot all about my crazy commute, and danced up and down the aisles, oohing and drooling over the yumminess on the shelves. I love TnT not only because of its incredible selection, cleanliness, freshness, and Chinese shopper-worthy pricing, but because it reminds me of home so much. Back in R-town, my family and I would go to TnT at least once a week as part of the ritual family grocery shopping. So it's that fine combination of food, family, and shopping that makes the 1 hr, 45 mins journey to TnT totally worth it.

Today I was on a mission for unagi (grilled eel) and dumplings. I made two very solid, thorough laps through the store. When I was ready to go, however, I looked out the store's front windows and realized that there was a HUGE storm going on outside. The sky was a disturbing grey and the rain was coming down with such ferocity that it would jump about 6 inches upon impact. Flashes of lightening cracked the sky. I stood there, staring, arms laden with frozen foods and trying to figure out how to get home.

But my geniusness and TnT conveniences came to a decision--I would buy some lunch and sit in the in-store seating area to wait out the storm. I ate a whole plate of ha gou (shrimp dumpling) and half a chi fan (sticky rice roll filled with Foody Goodiness [get it? get it? as in the (now-defunct) Chinese food smorgasboard!]. Then I just sipped my tea while I watched the crawling parking lot, as Chinese drivers honked at parked cars, young ladies tipped around in their heels, dads hopped around carrying babies in their arms, and old ladies hunched along, newspaper covering their heads.

When the rain looked like it was tapering off, I grabbed my bags of groceries and made a dash for it... getting to the corner bus stop just as the rain came to a stop. I took my journey in reverse.... bus to subway; subway to subway; subway to street car... and now I'm home in my warm apartment, groceries tucked away in cupboards and freezers. My full round-trip took over five hours... but it was totally worth it. After all, even though a trip back at home to the TnT would take 30 minutes, tops... it's not nearly as rewarding.