Fa La La La Latte...

Christmas-themed coffee is everywhere! So, like the selfless person I am, I took it upon myself to sample some of these beverages over the past few weeks and share my thoughts with you. I know what you're thinking, how can I be so giving? Well, 'tis the season, that's all I can say.

P.S. It's ok Mum, I'm eating my vegetables too!

Caramel brûlée latte (Starbucks)

While I love the idea of my favourite dessert in a beverage format, this latte had an intensely sugary caramel flavour which was a bit too much for me.

Gingerbread latte (Starbucks)
By far my favourite. A satisfying coffee hit with a delicious cinnamon and nutmeg finish. Very festive, I think I'll require a few more of these throughout December.

Peppermint mocha (Starbucks)

This was definitely the prettiest drink, but I found the taste incredibly chocolately and sickly sweet. I don't think I could do this again.

Eggnog latte (Timothy's World Coffee)

This latte had a smooth slightly custardy flavour which was quite nice, but the incongruousness of drinking eggnog at 10am on a weekday does play on your mind a bit.

Red Velvet latte (Timothy's World Coffee)

A Red Velvet cake is essentially a rich chocolate cake with lots of red food colouring, so I was curious as to how this would translate to a latte flavour. It was pink and sweet, but that was about the extent of the novelty. A colourblind person would think it was a regular latte.

Toasted Marshmallow latte (Second Cup)

This was a creatively titled vanilla latte. It did not evoke images of campfire sing-a-longs as I was hoping.

Candy Cane Latte (Second Cup)

A pleasantly subtle peppermint-flavoured latte. Very drinkable. Could be improved with the addition of an actual candy cane for stirring. I will lodge this suggestion with Second Cup management immediately.

Merry (Almost) Christmas

Christmas definitely starts earlier in Canada! As soon as Halloween was over, Christmas decorations appeared overnight in office buildings and shops, Christmas carols starting filling the airwaves and gingerbread lattes were suddenly available everywhere.

A couple of weeks ago we went to the winter agricultural fair. It was a nice day out with lots of farm animals, local produce, horses, giant pumpkins and some amazing butter sculptures. We felt the need to sample a 'pulled pork parfait' made with mashed potato - it tasted much better than it looks, I promise!

On Saturday night we watched the Cavalcade of Lights, a Christmas concert and fireworks display at City Hall. The bands played carols which was nice, if a little premature. One singer put it best when she wished the crowd a "Merry almost Christmas!" The Santa Claus parade on Sunday was good fun and drew a massive crowd eager to see Jolly old St Nick himself.

It's starting to get colder now, but there hasn't been any snow in Downtown Toronto yet. I'm really looking forward to the first flurry but I have to be careful when I say this, as the locals tend to groans and roll their eyes at me. The novelty has definitely worn off for some!

 Christmas display in a department store window

Halloween

Over the past week we've been getting into the Halloween spirit with our three Aussie visitors Jess, Andreas and Logan. Australia doesn't celebrate Halloween, so I was very excited to experience it for the first time here in Canada.

Shane and I went to a Halloween party where we dressed as silent film actors - I'm so proud of my grey-scale make-up skills, it was a very eerie and effective look. I think we out-costumed a lot of the Canadians at the party, but as I explained to them, we only get two shots at this holiday while we're here, so we need to make the most of it!

Our condo held a pumpkin carving competition which provided the perfect opportunity to create jack-o-lanterns for the first time. Jess and I had a lot of fun with this as you can see below. I think they make a very cute pair.

On Halloween night we all went trick-or-treating with a lovely Canadian family. Their three kids kindly showed us the ropes and in no time Jess and Andreas (dressed as bananas) and their little monkey Logan had collected a decent bag of loot. Some of the house decorations were incredible, people really go to town on them! It was great to get the authentic trick-or-treating experience (which included spreading out all the candy on the kitchen table afterwards). I loved seeing the kids' excitment and their costumes were adorable!

I really enjoyed Halloween. There's an abundance of chocolate around like Easter, with the creativity of a dress-up party, minus the stress of Christmas gift-giving and entertaining. I think I've found my new favourite holiday!