What do your meals look like (show me pictures)....

Leftover ingredients from last night’s hand rolls rolled into maki ‘s for breakfast.

Corn and Avocado Salad—this dish was so refreshing. A bright flavor pop. Hubby loved it! (The chicken is just a market Rotisserie chicken.)

Lunch on the Heathrow-Ottawa service of Air Canada in economy class. Order of Chinese takeout at mom’s house after landing.

We will be in Canada for just over a week but are already making a list of food to bring home to London. So far it only consists of pastrami and relish. Oh, and strawberry/banana flavoured jello. Any other suggestions?

Hi. The obvious first response it anything maple. I would guess real maple might be harder to come by across the pond. Pure maple syrup, maple-infused or component items such as dressings and sauces, condiments, and more, including candy and other confections. There are even maple liqueurs (I especially enjoy a Baileys-like maple cream drink). When I go up (I drive 10 hours to Ottawa), I stop at the duty free at the border coming back into the US and grab an assortment. Since I like salmon, I often pick up a pack or two of maple-smoked salmon for party purposes (e.g., Super Bowl time, LOL).

In Ottawa, there is a year-round market, ByWard, and a great Christmas market at Lansdowne. I usually walk a circuit and make mental choices before circling back and making my purchases. Items that travel well include small-batch/local-produced condiments (such as BBQ sauce in various unique flavors, including Asian fusion and Indigenous). I often snag a few bottles of these as they usually forego HFCS for natural sugars (maple, honey). Canned (meaning glass jar) veg and veg salad and relishes travel well and probably wouldn't raise concerns at your returning customs inspection.

I have only been to Toronto once, and missed it, but there is a famous market that you might try … Saint Lawrence Market. You could probably find more than you can carry there.

The baked foods culture is pretty robust. Try butter tarts and beavertails if you have the chance. And, of course, poutine. Classic poutine is fries ("chips" in the UK) with brown gravy and cheese curds, but there are varieties. Since I am around kids when there, some snack foods make their way into my palatte, including two flavors of potato chips ("crisps" in the UK) not found in the US, ketchup ("catsup"?) and "all dressed." They might make novelty purchases.

Much of the food culture is fresh food which doesn't travel well. British, French and Indigenous roots form the basis of a diverse, cosmopolitan mix of cuisine in the cities.

Good luck!

Thanks. I have been pretty much offline for a while and could not reply earlier. On the side is my ubiquitous chopped salad, that batch included green cabbage as the leaf and a dash of feta. I aim for 10+ veg servings/day and often rely on a salad to get over the top. Simple O&V with herbs (usually some combo of parsley, chives, basil, dill) dressing. The components vary by season and on-hand availability. Usually included are tomato, cucumber, peppers and onion. I see in this pic radish, celery and diced carrot as well.

The "Mexican corn" was an impromptu throw-together addition, variant from the traditional, cooked in a foil packet on the grill. Frozen kernal corn, diced fresh red pepper, minced fresh onion. Seasoning included cilantro, chile powder, black pepper, garlic powder, glug of EVOO, and, if I remember, a dash of cumin. Very lightly salted, my preference. Mixed well, rolled into a foil packet and onto the grill, direct heat for about 14 min (will vary by grill), then onto the warmer shelf while the other stuff took center stage. As the side salad included feta, I skipped the usual crumbled cheese topping when serving. I had hoped to have some char on the corn kernals, but the high humidity in the sealed foil prevented that; perhaps more time on the direct heat would have worked. Nonetheless, very tasty. Good luck!

Mom hosted a Chinese takeaway dinner at the private dining room of her nursing home.

@mjbnj0001 - ooh, ty, will try it! Appreciate your grill shares!

Saw a show with wood smoke & briquets in kettle we want to try.

• Do a ring of 2 briquets side x side, 85% around outside edge.
• Then stack 2nd layer on ring 2x2 and add wood chips intermittently
• Add water pan.
• Starter coals in a chimney, then pile at 1 end of the ring
• They will light the rng, then the next 2 in a domino effect...
• Provides 6+ hr cook in the large kettle.
• From Cook's Country tv show

Enjoy bbq shows with different fire. Currently use a kettle but family also contends on gas & pellet grills... and the smokers! Adds so much flavor.

Convenience grab & go deli sandwich downsized for dinner - removed the top 'everything' seasoned hoagie roll, removed the bacon - will use these at breakfast tomorrow.

Removed 1/2 the ham & cheese for lunch salad tomorrow.

Enjoyed waterlicious chilled cut watermelon after - tasty - refreshed. Yum!

@mjbnj0001

Next time you are in Ottawa a terrific restaurant for eating low fat and low carb is Takumi BBQ on Merivale Rd in the west end. It’s Dongbei BBQ similar to nearby Korean BBQ but the NE Chinese version has a wider variety of meat and veg for grilling and dipping sauces. Order perilla leaf as a wrap if you don’t want carbs.

Got back from Canada today. Managed to make dinner out of scraps in the fridge and stuff in the pantry. Soupe au pistou with a tiny bit of the last of the pesto. Used a spoonful from a jar of Chinese shallot sauce to flavour the broth. Veg was tomato, a green onion, a carrot and some dried split mung beans. We had some savoury tartlet shells air fried from leftover pastry for a tourtiere from before we left for Canada. They were made into mini quiches. Salad using some leftover pickled beet and candied nuts we usuallyhave in the pantry.

@mjbnj0001

I visit Ottawa three times a year now that my mom is not well. I grew up just SW of downtown. Takumi BBQ on Merivale is amazing. A suburban restaurant in a small city that is better than similar restaurants I have encountered since living in big cities such as London, Paris and NYC.

Another Ottawa site to tell your sister about, especially if she has kids. My husband goes walking at Mud Lake in Brittania just North of Lincoln Fields shopping centre. We have been telling Ottawa natives (including Uber drivers) about it, because this hidden gem seems unknown. He has seen beavers, wild turkeys, and deer in this conservation area not far from the city centre. If you have a few unsalted nuts, the song birds will eat from your hand. Here is a picture the hubby took last fall of a nut hatch when he noticed birds getting interested in the trail mix he was munching on.

I didn't manage to do any shopping on this trip. The hubby went to the nearby Loblaws to buy some 5Y old Canadian cheddar and some Montreal style pastrami to bring home, along of novelty Jello flavours. The corn on the cob at Loblaws was going for 20 cents per ear on Wednesday. I brushed a couple with melted butter and roasted in the air fryer. They would be great cooked in the same way on a BBQ.