Shopping Local

On the weekend my sister-in-las (SIL) and I went shopping to find her a dress for her upcoming Phd. defense. I'm not sure we entirely enteded to shop at stores that were locally owned but it's what we ended up doing.

We started our afternoon by stopping at Floc Boutique on 124th Aveune. The dress selection was fairly large for such a small store and SIL found a handful she wanted to try on. The staff were very helpful and after only our 1st store we had already found  SIL's dress for her defense! But, going against my nature I suggested we put it on hold and keep looking so that our day wasn't over so soon (being the practical woman I am my urge was to have her buy it and go to the movies!).

Our next stop was Maggie Walt Design where my SIL has always wanted to shop. I have never been in before so found it was refreshing to walk into a store with so much colour! In some ways I sort of felt I was walking into a yoga studio and after meeting Maggie Walt herself during our visit I realize that's probably what she was going for! Most of her designs have a distinct Asian/Indian feel to them. The colours, patterns, and styles all fit into those cultures. SIL found a super stylish jacket that I, not so secretly, covet and I surprised myself by finding a dress for myself!

After this we hit a few more locally owned dress shops but it was my visit to Queen of Tarts that stands out the most. We both bought 1 tart to eat right away and 1 tart to take home. Our selection for eating right away was the lemon tart...oooohhhh just thinking about it makes me want to go back for another one! The flavour was so crisp!  My second tart was the hazelnut tart that I found to be a little less in the flavour department but still yummy. SIL had the goat cheese tart so she'll have to let you know how it was.

After this we topped off our shopping trip with a stop for dinner at Culina Mill Creek so that I could have my FAVOURITE SALMON DISH EVER. Here's the description:  LINE CAUGHT WILD SALMON with goat cheese almond sauce and cucumber tomato salsa on orzo pasta. Seriously, I eat a lot of fish when I eat out and this is my absolute favourite. On a side note I also liked that when they described the feature of the evening they could say that every ingredient was purchased at the local farmers market except the fish; that's like supporting local x 2!

I found the entire experience to be so refreshing from just shopping at the local mall. It was a beautiful day out and we saw so many unique clothes we never would have seen there. So if a sunny Saturday afternoon is open on your calendar...give me a call and we'll do it all over again ;)



*all views expressed in this blog are my own :)