On Friday, I got groceries at Ogilvie and Montreal Rd. Metro was just another corporation in the Canadian grocery oligopoly but at least it wasn't Sobeys or Loblaws. Also, this plaza was near my first home so I could visit the old neighbourhood. All the stores have changed: the Fat Albert pizzeria, the local video rental, and the arcade tucked inside a convenience store. Even McDonald's has given way to a Popeye's.
After I made my purchases, I checked out one of the businesses. Creole Sensations was a small, clean restaurant offering Caribbean (primarily Haitian) food. It was more spacious and brighter than Boukannen. As it wasn't lunchtime yet, I was the only customer. But a few teenagers from the nearby high school dropped in as my order was being made.
The lunch special ($10) was rice and peas, fried plaintain, your choice of beef, chicken, or stewed vegetables, and a can of pop. I was at first disappointed with the portion size but it turned out to be a filling meal. The stew had good flavour but the both the rice and the plaintain were just a tad dry. This was my second taste of Haitian-style plaintain but I prefer the Jamaican version without the batter. The best part of the meal turned out to be pikliz. What I first took to be coleslaw was actually a Haitian pickled condiments of cabbage, carrots, seasoning, and a nice kick from Scotch bonnets.
On Saturday, I received a call from an ex-coworker. The good news was they had started exercising again after stopping during the pandemic. The bad news was their continuing obsession with "missing out" on the real estate market. With sky-high rent in Toronto, I can sympathize with lost opportunities and feeling "stuck" in a less-than-ideal apartment because the alternative is to see your monthly rent shoot up if you move.
They had recently attended a gathering of mutual colleagues to celebrate a milestone: someone had spent 25 years at the same company. This wasn't the first get-together that I wasn't invited to. We all went on to other jobs but it being a small world, I have also worked with the same folks (in various configuration) at other companies too. In fact, before the pandemic layoffs, several of them were with me at my current job. So it wasn't as if we had lost touch.
On the other hand, I never shared the same level of camaraderie with these coworkers. When we worked in Mississauga, I didn't hang out after work at the local pub. And as for the most recent job, there were often lunch outings. But it was always for mediocre pub food, sushi, and so on. So I usually ended up going alone for more interesting fare like northern Chinese noodles, fancier sushi, Korean stew, or Sri Lankan food. Yet every choice has consequences as I missed opportunities to deepen friendships or even just establish better ties for networking.
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