A couple of weeks ago, I stopped by Hy Tea in Pickering. The city’s small tea shop and restaurant is located off Liverpool Road, on Frenchman’s Bay at 1295 Wharf Street. It’s owned and operated by Hy Niles – an extremely personable and kind hearted woman, who served us while we were there for an afternoon of treats and tea.

Now, my friend Lori and I stopped by the tea house for our first time ever, during the off season. But I can tell you, I’ve seen the establishment packed throughout the summer months – so it’s best to enjoy it while the weather is still a bit chilly for a perfect relaxing atmosphere!

If you’re a tea enthusiast, like me, you may always be looking for new and exciting places to visit. Hy Tea in Pickering charges just under $24 dollars for a high-tea experience, and includes a warm scone, whipped butter, tasty deserts, fruits, sweet Devon cream, delicious jam and delicate finger sandwiches. Although, they do suggest a reservation first.

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Taunton Bakery is located just east of Whitby, in the Somerville and Taunton Road West area of Oshawa. The small and quaint bakery features healthy deli sandwiches, some yummy treats and fresh loaves of bread. The shop is only a few minutes from my work, which is why I went to check them out. I also had the chance to meet the owner of the Oshawa bakery, Ying, who seemed quite humble and hardworking. Despite the language barrier, we were able to chat and share some stories.

It took me some time to decide what to order … but for lunch, I ordered a whole grain bun – which you can pick up yourself in the front of the store – complete with chicken, Havarti cheese (yum!) and lettuce. It tasted great, although I was quite tempted to walk out with a piece of Heart Chocolate cake. It sure looked delicious, but I think I will save that for my next round at Taunton Bakery.

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Don’t you just love when you find a great local place to waste time, without having to drop too much money? Well, I’ve found my permanent tea shop, as mentioned in previous posts, we spent an afternoon at Jazzberry Tea House, in Pickering Village.

Today, my friend Jaya and I spent the afternoon drinking Chocolate Peppermint & Chocolate Coconut teas, and enjoying yummy desserts – she ordered an oatmeal/chocolate chip cookie, and I bought a chocolate brownie. We also had some time to talk about our career plans, and make some solid goals for for the future. Productive? Absolutely! Did I mentioned we also were given a couple of homemade Valentines while we were there?

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Well, it’s another week and that means another photography challenge with ExP (Exposed Planet). This week’s theme: cooking/baking. For the challenge, I baked chocolatey chip brownies and I HAD cooked chow mein noodles, but they didn’t turn out so well.

I made these brownies out of scratch, from a recipe on Food Gawker. The instructions had originally called for mint chocolate chips, but I opted out for regular ones. (You should have seen me in the grocery store shopping for these supplies; it was a disaster!)

Overall, they weren’t too bad. Not as moist as I had hoped, but with a little skim milk they tasted fine – just ask my mom!

“Look at the trees, look at the birds, look at the clouds, look at the stars… and if you have eyes you will be able to see that the whole existence is joyful. Everything is simply happy. Trees are happy for no reason; they are not going to become prime ministers or presidents and they are not going to become rich and they will never have any bank balance. Look at the flowers – for no reason. It is simply unbelievable how happy flowers are.” - Osho

Photo by: Jennifer MacFadyen