Ottawa weekend!

Between school and work, taking some time off to visit some awesome friends was definitely much needed. We had some delicious food and strolled around the infamous Byward Market located at the heart of downtown Ottawa. I didn’t quite appreciate all the things that the city had to offer when I lived there over 2 years ago, but I’m glad that I did this time around. These pictures only give a glimpse of some of the things you can experience visiting Ottawa; I concentrated more towards really absorbing the abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables sold every summer time at the Byward Market as well as dining in some restaurants.

Visiting the market was great, especially meeting the local farmers and speaking to them about their products. Particularly, when we were in the hunt for sweet strawberries (for a recipe I’ll post later on) one of farmers had some green gooseberries. I’ve had some gooseberries before but there were a light orange colour and usually enveloped inside some leaves, similar to tomatillos. These gooseberries were green, and perhaps he took off the leaves from the fruit itself, the taste was different from regular gooseberries. They were sweeter rather than tart and citrusy. Most of all, I could really feel the excitement in his voice when he was telling us about these green little berries. He had so much passion about the product he’s selling. Often, that is exactly what we miss when products are mass produced and sold commercially. The interaction that you have with the product’s maker gives you comfort in knowing that if he/she takes pride into his/her product then it is a product of quality. Although, that is not to say that you can’t have good quality produce in commercialized grocery stores, because you can. Some people would say that those produce have been grown with some added chemicals and whatnot and perhaps they have been (I’m sure there are a bunch of documentaries you could watch about this around). For me, it’s the pride. These farmers have pride because they know that they’ve taken care of their products the same way they’ve been doing so for decades. That, to me, is the difference.

Always,

–K